Twisting In The Wind
by Shalan the Magnificent
Summary: Uryu has always hated the Shinigami, but never before has he ever met one that hated him just as much, if not more. A fiery young captain, fresh into her spot seems to have a hatred for Quincy, a hatred that stems from a 300 yearlong pact...IshiOC
1. Cat and Mouse

**Twisting in the Wind**

**Summary: **Uryu has always hated the Shinigami, as long as he could remember, but never before has he ever met one that hated him just as much… if not more. A fiery young captain, fresh into her spot seems to have a hatred for Quincy, a hatred that stems from a 300 yearlong pact. Can she continue her hatred for him and restrain herself as she should or will they both bow to temptation? IchiRuki, IshiOC

**Genre: **Action/Romance/Comedy

**Rating: **NC-17 (For Violence, Language and Sexual Content… all the good stuff)

**Author's Note: **I have been banned from talking to my best friend, haven't slept in nearly 24 hours and I have this insane desire to write this story… Why? I really have no idea. **BTW Please Review... After chapter six I'm not posting anymore until I get five more reviews each chapter that's posted... so... now I have three... then I need two more to post seven I'm not asking much... just post ONE review... or even one review per chapter... please...**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Bleach… well I do own a plastic jug of bleach but not the show you understand.

**Chapter: **Cat and Mouse

He ran along the hardwood floors of the ramps in the Seireitei, his white hair whipping in the gentle wind. His breaths panted on his lips as he looked in each room for what he was looking for. His white captain's jacket flew out behind him as he vaulted himself over the side of the railing, dropping down onto the next level. "Damn it! Come out!" He shouted as he saw a flash of crimson around the corner. "Nii-san!" He shouted and ran after the red blur.

"Ha!" Renji Abarai jumped out from behind the corner, his face stretched in a grin. "Damn… it's just you." The red head's face sunk. The white haired boy frowned back and rested a hand on his hip, tilting his body slightly. "So you can't catch her either?" Renji laughed.

"That's a load of bull… how is it that she keeps turning our own game against us?" Toshiro Hitsugaya complained. The white haired youth made a face.

"Cat and mouse is kinda like that." Renji grinned then straightened up as his captain walked by, reading a scroll.

"At ease Renji." Byakuya chided as he walked past. "Continue what you were doing." Then Toshiro and Renji watched him walk off.

"Race you!" Renji took off running in the other direction. Toshiro groaned and ran after him. Their socked feet sliding on the hardwood. "GAH!" A sliding door opened in front of them and Captain Kenpachi Zaraki stepped out, for once his usual accessory, his lieutenant, was missing from his shoulder. "ZA-RA-KI! WATCH OUT!" Renji slid to a stop barely inches from the captain.

"What are yo-" Toshiro turned his feet and skid to a stop, sliding to just a few centimeters away from the older man. "Kenpachi." The white haired boy grinned and the scarred captain looked down at them.

"Taking part in childish games Hitsugaya?" Zaraki questioned, his bells nearly brushing the doorframe. Toshiro made a face.

"Just trying to catch someone." The younger captain replied. Zaraki nodded wisely. "See ya!" He ran off after Renji, sliding around a corner.

"Silly kids." Ikkaku Madarame shook his head with a sigh. The bald man then followed his captain as he walked off.

"Renji! Where is she?" Toshiro called to the red headed man. When Abarai shrugged the white haired captain stomped his foot. "Damn it!" Then he stopped as he heard a giggle.

"Captain!" Renji called and beckoned him over. "Did you hear that Hitsugaya?" Renji's head was tilted upwards. When the younger man nodded Renji smiled. "I know where she is." He then took off in another direction completely.

In the meantime a ways away a young woman sat in the branches of a sakura tree. Her red lips were curved into a smiled as she bit into an apple. "They'll never find me." Her scarlet hair was pulled up into a clip at the back of her head and her hair splayed out in the back. Her bangs brushed the left side of her face, sometimes hiding her left eyes from sight. Her brilliant azure eyes stood out against her lightly tanned skin. The black rings that surrounded her irises stood out even more against the sky blue. Her dark lashes framed a ring around her lids, the black liner on her eyes simply magnifying them. A long white captain's jacket was pulled over her shinigami uniform. Her uniform was similar to Soi Fon's as it was backless and was held up by a halter strap. She, however, did not wear anything under it other than her traditional white bindings around her breasts.

The bindings did little to hide her breasts. Being that they were rather large she was designated one of the sexiest shinigami. However, she resented this fact, saying that her breasts caused her to receive less respect from her peers. After the captain of the 9th Division disappeared Captain Kazumi Hasegawa, the head of the noble Hasegawa clan took his place. She was extremely young for a captain's position, as was one of her closest friends, Toshiro Hitsugaya. She smiled as she heard her pursuers coming. She dropped from her perch with a grunt and stood for a second, throwing her apple away. Then she launched herself into the air and bounded off in another direction.

"RENJI! THERE SHE IS!" Toshiro pointed up as he saw her jump.

"HAHAHA! ROAR ZABEMARU!" He slid his hand along his zanpakuto's length then in one swift motion the sword extended and whipped up into the air. She saw it coming and blocked the harmless attack. "DAMN!" He shifted again, sliding one foot back and whipped Zabemaru back into the air. This time his attack did what it was supposed to, it wrapped around her right upper arm and ripped her ribbon and pulled her down to their level.

"GOTCHA NII-SAN!" Toshiro laughed. The young woman disentangled herself from Renji's sword and stood, laughing as well.

"Yeah… yeah you did." She rubbed the back of her head. "But of course. I did avoid you boys for three days." She grinned and Renji wrapped an arm around her neck.

"Yeah… I get the feeling though… that you just gave up." He grinned angrily and she nodded, a fox like smile on her face.

"Yeah… I felt sorry for you both." She chuckled and Toshiro groaned.

"So this means that… we're it again." Toshiro hung his head. The older captain nodded. Renji laughed at him.

"Unless we could wrangle someone else into playing." Yachiru appeared at the female captain's elbow, she also had a ribbon tied around her arm. "Right Nii-chan?" The red haired woman nodded.

"So Hasegawa. You wanna play another game?" The older man questioned, his eyes twinkling.

"Against you Abarai? Any day." Her eyes narrowed playfully and Toshiro slapped his forehead. "What's wrong Shiro-Bozu?" She placed her hands on her hips.

"DIDN'T I ASK YOU NOT TO CALL ME THAT?" The younger boy shouted and she smiled teasingly.

"Maybe… once… but you know I don't listen to commands." She leaned forward, her eyes narrowed jovially. Toshiro huffed at her and put on a grumpy face. Momo Hinamori watched from the walkway above them with a soft smile on her face. Toshiro always acted so seriously all the time… it was good to know that he could act like a kid with somebody. She watched as the white haired boy waved his arms in the air before Kazumi wrapped an arm around his neck and gave him a noogie. Their shouts traveled all the way up to her, with Yachiru and Renji's laughter mixed in.

"At it again are they?" Jushiro Ukitake walked by in company of Byakuya Kuchiki. The black haired man nodded solemnly. "How fun… I wish I could play." The white haired man grinned childishly and Byakuya looked at him strangely.

"Why in the world would you want to- no… never mind I know you better than that." The captain of the 6th division sighed and shook his head. The white haired captain looked over at Hinamori and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Lieutenant Hinamori? Why don't you go join their game?" Jushiro grinned, his jovial smile glittered.

"Captain Ukitake! You're feeling okay today?" Her eyes grew worried. Jushiro nodded.

"One good day." He smiled. "Every once in a while I have one good day. Or maybe two. But if you and your captain would visit more often I would feel better all the-GLUH!" Byakuya bonked him on the back of his head.

"Perverted old man." The black haired man shook his head and dragged Jushiro off. Hinamori's dinner plate eyes nearly covered her face. To think… the captains she so idolized acted just like everyone else. Well… maybe it was just those two. She then realized that it had been quiet from below for quite some time now. She looked down and noticed that no one was down below her anymore.

"Drat! Why can't she stay in one place!?" Hinamori sighed, putting one hand to her forehead. Then she ran off, trying to find her captain.

Renji stumbled slightly as water splatter on the already slippery wood. He slid for a second and regained his balance. The red head looked around him then looked up as rain splattered on his face. "Rain?" He questioned as the storm winds picked up whipping his uniform pants around his legs and causing his sleeves to flap wildly. He shifted his head to look over his shoulder and up slightly. "Hmmm…" His eyes narrowed as he saw three people walking and talking as they walked the wooden paths. He allowed his body to continue through and flipped back onto the wooden path, avoiding the game of cat and mouse for now.

A ways away Toshiro ran down one of the wood lined paths, sliding around a corner as his jacket whipped around him, pulling out his sword. "Damn." He kept running when he saw nothing in his path. He was taller than before, his body had lengthened and grown more muscular, his attacks now were perhaps more powerful than ever before. Years had passed since the red alert alarm had rung, announcing that devastating attack on the Seireitei. Toshiro remembered that day all too well. He chuckled thinking back on it now. He slid around the corner. He, Hinamori and Renji had returned to the Seireitei after nearly 6 months of being in the human world. Since they had returned everything had been peaceful. Considering they didn't have so much guard duty to do and the security was starting to relax a little. Except for the occasional hollow appearance apparently on Rukia's end the world was fairly peaceful.

"Yoo hooo!" He heard Kazumi's voice and swung around only to have his sword clash with hers. "Good reflexes grasshopper." She teased. Their jackets cracked in the harsh winds of the storm, their hair and uniforms whipping around like crazy. Her hair, like a nimbus, floated in the winds, slapping her cheeks and neck. The rumor was that Toshiro had trained, even as a captain, under Kazumi. Which if it was true would have been embarrassing before as she hadn't even been seated, much less passed the Shinigami school yet. Just before the attack on the Seireitei Kazumi had come out of no where and passed through her courses in just 8 months and flew through the final exams. She then immediately took the fifth seat in squad 6 then soon after Tosen left the head of the Hasegawa clan approached General Yamamoto and persuaded him to give her the squad nine captain's spot.

"Grasshopper? Did Renji break your hair clip?" Toshiro grunted and heaved his body, knocking her back but not off balance as he had hoped and she swung her sword at him only to be blocked again. Toshiro shivered slightly in the icy wind, already soaked to the bone from the freezing rain. But before he would give her the spot he said she would have to prove her strength and in a breathtaking moment Kazumi almost instantaneously defeated Byakuya Kuchiki in a devastating match that had been decided from the beginning. Since that day no one, except Toshiro and Renji, ever saw her use her final release and she even rarely used her initial release, instead choosing to wield the lighter katana form of her zanpakuto.

"That's what I said Shiro-Bozu." She grinned evilly and he thrust his sword past her guard, or so he thought and attempted to slash the ribbon she had tied to her upper right arm. The girl flipped back away from him and landed on the railing, fabric flying in the air.

"NO!" Toshiro looked down and saw that she had cut his ribbon. "I'm dead! I hate you!" He grouched and she laughed, still crouching on the railing, her long white jacket whipping in the wind behind her. Her uniform was plastered to her body tightly and Toshiro noticed this, his teenaged brain then grasped the he was looking at a fully-grown woman… and he could see… most everything. Her lips curved into a smile as she noticed his gaze.

"I know… you're out of the game Shiro-Bozu and hey… Bozu… see something you like?" Her voice was taunting, teasing as she shocked him back into reality and he blushed furiously. She flipped back and disappeared below the walkway with a haughty laugh. Toshiro frowned and shook his head, looking at his ribbon as it suddenly whipped in the air.

"What's with all this weird weather lately?" The white haired boy looked up and out over the Seireitei and squinted. "It's getting dark… it's raining… that's weird." Toshiro blinked as the wind picked up again, whipping the ribbon in his hand. His white jacket whisked in the wind, cracking in the air sharply as his hair blew back from his face.

"Honestly I don't know." Renji walked over to him, his uniform pants shuddering in the wind making a slapping noise. Kazumi and Yachiru walked over, watching the huge rolling black clouds build over the Seireitei.

"Ah man! I guess that mean's the game is over." Kazumi sighed and placed a hand on her forehead. "We'll finish as soon as it clears." She grinned and Renji nodded.

"Oh well… at least we have some good news! Guess who just arrived?" Renji grinned. Toshiro and Kazumi exchanged looks and smiled mischievously.

"All Captains Are To Report To Conference Room One! All Lieutenants Are To Report To Conference Room 13! I Repeat All Captains Are To Report To Conference Room One! All Lieutenants Are To Report-" The voice came over the speakerphone.

"All captains to room one?" Kazumi questioned and looked at Toshiro. The white haired captain simply shrugged.

"Conference room one… isn't that on the _other side_ of the Seireitei?" Renji questioned. Kazumi looked up, thinking. "Yep… I'm pretty sure you're gonna be late to that meeting Captains Hasegawa and Hitsugaya." He grinned, his fingers cradling his chin. However when he opened his eyes they were gone. "Or not."


	2. No Games Here

**Chapter: **No Games Here

She ran ahead of Toshiro and skidded, sliding on the soaked wood floor. He tried to stop and ended up instead crashing into her and knocking them both over. She groaned lightly as he got up and helped her up. "Damn that was my head Hitsugaya!" She griped at him and the white haired boy backed up slightly.

"Sorry!" He apologized then suddenly took on a stern face and she dimmed her smile as the heavy shoji to the conference room opened to reveal the other eleven captains. Captain Zaraki stood before them, his face, grim as usual but it soon spread into a grin as did the rest of them. Most of them hid their grins in their shihakusho sleeves. Byakuya even had to suppress a snicker and a smile in his scarf.

The two youngest Captains were both soaked to the bone and windblown, Kazumi's usually combed and brushed hair was sticking out in eight different directions and Toshiro's hair was plastered to his head, covering his eyes and making him look like a wet dog. Their jackets were tangled up behind them and their uniforms were fixed against their skin. Her already rather skimpy uniform clung to her breasts and hips tightly like second skin. The men in the room had to tear their eyes away from her as Soi Fon coughed and General Yamamoto clapped for their attention. She pulled her wet captain's jacket tighter around her form, trying to hide her soaked clothes. Then she felt something warm and dry drape around her shoulders. She looked up and the usually stern face of Byakuya was soft, he might have thought she was irresponsible but he still thought of her as a sister or a daughter and took care of her as one.

"Thank you." She said softly, her blue eyes deepened. She reached up and gently ran a hand down the jacket, pulling the much to large haori around her body. Toshiro's own shoulders were covered suddenly by another haori, Jushiro smiled down at him and Toshiro fussed, trying to get it off.

"Jushiro-sempai! You're sick you need to stay as warm as you-" Jushiro touched his finger to the younger boy's nose.

"Hush now. I may be sick but I'm not going to get any worse. You however my young friend." The older man smiled. "You may still get sick yet and that would not be good." Jushiro tilted his head towards his younger coworker and Toshiro nodded silently, pulling the warm haori around himself, touched by the care that his "shiro brother" had given him. For once he was acting normal- "Oh and by the way!" Jushiro pulled out a chocolate orange from his pocket and handed it to Toshiro. The younger boy sweat-dropped as his eye twitched. Jushiro simply smiled happily as Toshiro looked up at him, his eye twitching.

"Never mind." Toshiro muttered under his breath eliciting a snort from both Kazumi and Soi Fon. Byakuya, the only other person that heard it bit back a grin.

"Enough!" General Yamamoto roared over the snickers. "We have an important matter to discuss." A silence fell over the room. "Now I'm glad that you all are having a good time, as it should always be around each other but… we must address the matter at hand." Yamamoto tilted his head towards them.

"What is this urgent matter Old Man?" Kazumi questioned, stepping forward out of the line then stepping back in. "As Toshiro and I are soaked and cold and would rather like to take hot baths and put on dry clothes." Her comment brought out another round of snickers from the crowd of captains.

"Very well… on to the matter." Yamamoto began.

"Is the matter dealing with the Quincy that stepped onto the Seireitei earlier today?" Zaraki questioned.

"Yeah! What's with that anyways? Since when have we allowed outsiders like him into the court of pure souls!" Soi Fon spoke out for once.

"He is a pure soul. A Quincy is a pure soul! Maybe he's not a shinigami but he's a good man." Toshiro defended the raven-haired man.

"Really then… why did he destroy Jirobo Ikannzaka's spirit chain?" Captain of the fourth division Unohana protested. Kazumi remained silent as the argument continued. Her look darkened. A Quincy? In the Seireitei?

_'Because… he's a Quincy… Quincy were created simply to wreak havoc on the shinigami. Yet… my family made a pact with-'_

"Captain Hasegawa? What do you think?" Captain of the 12th division Mayuri Kurotsuchi questioned. After the attack from Uryu the captain had removed his mask, revealing his blue hair and bright yellow eyes. Yet he still appeared to have no visible ears… a mystery that was often discussed.

"Meh?" She looked up. She realized that she had been staring at the floor, lost deep in thought. The entire captain's court was staring at her. They knew of her supreme dislike of Quincy… and the word itself often caused her to irk but for once, she was completely silent. "I think we should just observe him." She said under her breath, still looking rather blank. Her thoughts chased each other in circles.

"Alright. Has the court come to a conclusion?" Yamamoto questioned, tapping his fingers together.

"Let Kazumi make the decision. She's the one who dislikes them so much." Kurotsuchi let a smile flit across his lips. The red headed woman looked up, scanning the devious scientist. She stepped forward slightly, turning to face the group as she studied an extremely interesting place on the floor.

"Let him stay. However… observe him and make sure he doesn't hurt anyone and make sure no one hurts him." Her icy azure eyes met Mayuri's golden orbs. "That means you Mayuri." She said sternly. "If you even _think_ about using him as a test subject I swear… you will regret it." The last part of her sentence caused her face to darken and her voice suddenly lowered dangerously. Mayuri's face grew dangerously dark. Kazumi was the only captain who openly admitted that he sometimes went overboard with his testing, sometimes even using himself as a subject.

"Very well." The blue haired man agreed through gritted teeth. Kazumi's eyes flashed dangerously again and everyone then noticed that her knuckles were white.

"If anyone of you harm a hair on his head I will give you the same warning. If anyone is going to hurt him… it's going to be me." The red head then turned and tossed Byakuya his jacket and walked out.

"Nii-san!" Toshiro bowed to Jushiro. "Thank you." And after handing the older man his jacket he ran off after his mentor. Jushiro watched him leave.

"She is a free spirited one isn't she?" Unohana smiled softly and Soi Fon nodded. Jushiro slipped back into his jacket.

"So… I suppose we have to do what she asks yes?" Mayuri looked at General Yamamoto and the old man nodded. "Indeed." The scientist frowned.

"What's wrong Mayuri? Can't destroy anyone else's life?" Zaraki taunted and the shorter captain turned to him.

"At least I'm not a mindless ape with no tact." The scientist stated blandly and Zaraki's temper flared as an argument ensued.

"Geez… old men getting caught up in stupid bickering again…" Toshiro grumbled from outside the room. "Nii-san!" He ran off after the other girl again. "Where are you going?"

"To bathe! Where else?" She shrugged and walked into her room, picking up her wash bucket and retreating towards the bathing house. Toshiro met her as she walked out, his own wash bucket in his hands. His light blue towel was folded neatly on top of his fresh jacket and uniform.

"Kazumi." He stated her name, walking behind her. She was quiet, too quiet. The red head stopped in her place.

"What?" Was her simple reply, her hair whipping around her head.

"Why don't you want anyone to touch him? I thought you hated the Quincy." Toshiro waited for another answer but instead received silence. He gulped and followed her as she walked on.

"Some day Toshiro… someday you will understand." Her voice was sad as she paused again, looking over her shoulder slightly, her eyes hidden in shadow from her bangs. "Now let's talk about something else." She trailed off and walked ahead of him.

"Okay. Oh!" He looked down. "Damn! I forgot my shampoo! I need to go back for it." He made a face and ran off. "I'll meet you there." She nodded solemnly.

_'So he's in the area huh?'_ Her mind ran in circles again as she lost herself deep in thought. _'Why don't I introduce myself to him?' _The other half of her brain, the devil's advocate, commented back to that question.

_'Because… what would you say? Hey there I'm Kazumi Hasegawa… I hate you and I'm going to be the one that kills you?'_ Her inner voice laughed scathingly.

_'No!'_ The other half argued. _'I would try and be civil… maybe… we could get over what happened in our pasts?'_

_'Psh! That's really going to happen. Once you tell him what his father did to your parents?'_ The darker side scolded.

"Heh?" She looked up as she walked by a young man leaning on a railing. He straightened as she walked by and she paused. He was cute. Her eyes lowered then swept up, taking in his long legs and muscular abdomen and arms, his long graceful neck and angled jaw line. His brilliant cerulean eyes were set within deep black lashes. His black bangs framed his face as his eyes met hers. She lowered her eyes to his hips then lower. She then turned and walked off. As she reached the corner she paused again and looked back, her eyes taking another sweep. Something in her stomach fluttered as she went around the corner and she felt a blush rise in her cheeks as her mind grasped what she had just done. "Damn it." She put her fist to her forehead. Then walked on.

On the other side of the Seireitei the lieutenants were wrapping up their business. Renji folded his arms solemnly across his chest as Hinamori shook her head.

"I say we just let her get used to him… perhaps she won't hurt him you know Renji-Renji?" Yachiru nodded, her arms over his shoulder, clinging to him as she would her captain.

"Yeah… I suppose in time she could… potentially… come up with more creative ways of killing him." Shuhei Hisagi stated, nodding his head in agreement.

"She's not that violent." Hinamori attempted to defend her friend's honor. "Either way, even if she is a little hot headed she means well and she's not going to hurt him if he doesn't give her reason to." She looked around the meeting.

"But hasn't his father already given her enough of a reason?" Rangiku Matsumoto interrupted. The busty blonde ruffled Hinamori's hair.

"I suppose but Kazumi is an honorable woman. She's not going to do anything unless she believes it's right." Renji offered his hand out, keeping his other hand on his upper arm. The sunglasses on his head picked up a glare from the light in the room slightly.

"Honorable is right. And because she's honorable she's going to want to avenge her family." Isane Kotetsu spoke from the back of the group.

"Isane! You can't possibly believe that she would do something like that!" Yachiru protested as her and Renji's faces grew grim.

"No one even knows much about her! How can we know she's not going to hurt him! We can't have ryoka in the Seireitei and expect the captains to not be ruffled." Shuhei stated, looking over at Renji. The red headed lieutenant frowned further, and growled slightly, letting them know of his displeasure.

"Calm down Renji, we're not saying that she needs to be locked away… we're just saying that someone needs to keep an eye on her…" Isane offered her own hands out to emphasize her point.

"She's in almost constant company of us." Yachiru pointed out. "Why can't me and Renji-Renji just do it?" The pink haired girl questioned. The rest of the lieutenants seemed to consider this for a second and several exchanged whispers. When Shuhei nodded they knew they had struck gold. The rest of the lieutenants would most likely follow what he said.

"Fine. But you two will attempt to be in constant company unless we see than she has no intent to hurt the Quincy." Shuhei folded his arms and closed his eyes with a nod. "Do you two understand?" He opened his eyes again then groaned. "Damn it!" Where the two had once stood were two straw dummies.

"HAHAHA!" Renji high-fived Yachiru who giggled as they ran. "We sure got outta that meeting didn't we!" Yachiru nodded. "No-oo-ow! To the showers!" He slid into his room and grabbed his bucket, slipping a fresh change of clothes into it. Yachiru dashed out of her own quarters, sliding to stop at the same time he did.

"I'm gonna beat you!" She ran off, skidding on the hardwood floors and spinning around a corner.

"That's not fair! I'm so going to win!" He chased off after her.

"Kids." Ikkaku shook his head and his captain nodded in agreement. "I bet they're going to get cleaned up before the banquet." He chuckled.

"Aren't you?" Zaraki questioned, looking down at his bald headed comrade.

"Perhaps… but not while all of them are in there." He fussed with his sash a little and Zaraki put his hand on the shorter man's shoulder.

"Why? Are you afraid of something?" Zaraki's face sank a little.

"Noooo…" Madarame blinked up at his captain. "I'm… just… it would be weird with uhm… Miss…"

"AAAAAHH!" Zaraki gave a smile. "Captain Hasegawa no? Yes she is an awkward addition to the group isn't she?" He chuckled a little.

"She is… but I wonder what's going to end up happening sir… will she really hunt the Quincy down?" Ikkaku blinked, staring out over the Seireitei.

"Perhaps… but it would be a good fight to see…" Zaraki nodded and walked off. "It would be a good fight to see."


	3. Red Rover

**Chapter: **Red Rover

"Seems to me that our arrival has set about a flurry of activity." Rukia observed wisely, looking around the waiting room where they were sat. She sat in the seiza position, which made Uryu and Ichigo flinch.

"How do you do that?" Ichigo eyed her as she looked up. She tilted her head to the side.

"He means… how in the world can you sit like that?" Uryu blinked, thinking about all the times his grandfather had made him seiza sit as a punishment for doing something wrong. The college student bit his bottom lip, wondering if all this activity was because he was there. Ichigo gripped his shoulder, trying to get his attention. A grip that Uryu had now become used to. If Ichigo wanted his attention one of two things would happen: either he'd get punched in the face or his best friend would grip his shoulder or neck tightly. A grip was usually translated in an attempt at calming him.

"What?" Uryu looked up at his friends, his cerulean eyes still far away. The carrot-top exchanged looks with Rukia and shook the raven-haired man lightly. "What?!" The older boy griped and Ichigo drew back.

"We were worried about you." Rukia raised her eyebrows. "You spaced out like a whacko." She chuckled and Ichigo nodded. Uryu shook his head.

"Sorry… I was just wondering if everything in the Soul Society was done so slowly." Uryu made an excuse for what he was really thinking. His thoughts then turned to Ichigo and Rukia. He was jealous to a point of them. For what they had. He knew that he had a best friend, Ichigo, but they had something special. Not that either of them would admit it. He smirked. He saw right through that façade he knew all too well that Ichigo loved Rukia and vice versa.

"Yeah… besides… I think I came home at just the wrong time." She looked out the window, staring at the impending storm. The huge black clouds shot lightening out and thunder rumbled suddenly and Rukia jumped as the lights flickered. Uryu began to laugh. Ichigo and Rukia looked over at him. It wasn't that she was afraid that made him laugh, it was where she jumped into. For in a matter of seconds she cleared the two yards between herself and Ichigo and planted herself in his lap, pulling his arms protectively around her, her face buried in his shoulder.

"What's so funny Ishida?" The carrot-top lifted his head as Rukia embarrassedly removed herself from his lap. "Huh?" He eyed the Quincy.

"No-nothing!" Uryu laughed, covering his mouth, his shoulders shaking. But deep inside his mind he was jealous. He wanted something like that. He wanted to have someone to hold… to cherish… he wanted someone to want him to hold her when it thundered. He shook his head again, trying to clear his thoughts. _'Psh… Ishida you don't need anyone… you may think you do but you don't… you'll be fine.'_ His lips twisted into a smile.

"Hey! I have an idea… why don't we… look around." Ichigo stood up and Uryu slapped his forehead. Leave it to the curious as a puppy Ichigo to think of something that could potentially get them in trouble.

"Look around Kurosaki?" The Quincy raised his eyebrows up, denoting the fact that he found the idea ridiculous. "That's a good idea. As if we're not ALREADY on their bad side… let's go and explore and trip off a few booby-traps… that oughta make them like us." He laughed haughtily. Only after he said it did he realize how scathing that had come across. He had said it with the jealousy and anger that he felt without meaning to. As the silence became deafening the Quincy stood and walked out onto the balcony like walkway, shutting the door behind him.

"Jesus…" He rested his elbows on the railing and tangled his fingers through his hair. "Why is it always me who falls behind huh?" He asked to no one in particular. The young man was having an identity crises, he was falling into the funk that his father had fallen into. He knew he was a Quincy. He knew that much. He gripped his hair a little harder, squeezing his eyes shut. But now… he had broken a promise to his father, he had promised that he would stay with the Quincy way and yet now here he was… about to be introduced to the entire court of pure souls as "The Last Quincy". He hung his head. It was like a crazy game of Red Rover with his life.

"On the other hand…" He then thought about it. He also had a shinigami side according to Rukia and he seemed to be able to tap into that when he needed. He then closed his eyes again, forcing himself to think about something else. A family. Yeah right… a beautiful wife… a trophy wife is more like it… a shallow blonde woman with big breasts and blue eyes who sucks his wallet dry… not that it was possible to do such a thing. He chuckled to himself. _'The only problem is… can you even get a girl to look twice at you?' _Then he heard footsteps and looked up, his black hair plastered to his head.

A pretty girl walked by, with long red hair, she stared as she walked by and he saw her do something he had never had a girl do to him before, she paused just a second and her eyes took a good sweep of him from his feet to his head. Her eyes lingered on his face for a moment, her icy blue eyes meeting his cerulean as one of her eyebrows arched in interest then she turned and walked off. His eyes followed her, noticing the white jacket she wore. _'A captain? Then she wasn't interested Ishida… she was probably just sizing you up.'_ One part of his brain told him. Then she did something else, as she turned the corner of the walkway she turned her head to him again, her eyes taking another sweep then she turned her head back and disappeared around the corner. He stared after her. _'There's your proof… you got a girl to look twice… a pretty girl no less.'_ He smiled to himself, his eyes fixed on the spot where the girl had gone. He wondered if she was really a captain or if she had just borrowed a captain's jacket because of the rain.

"No… it was hers…" He decided. "It was clean, so was she and neither she nor the coat were wet…" He nodded his head and looked over as the door to the dojo style building opened.

"You okay Uryu? You're talking to yourself again." Ichigo smiled and Uryu nodded, a true smile on his face. So he was good enough to be looked at twice.

"Yeah… I'm sorry for what I said earlier." He hung his head then felt his best friend's hand on his shoulder again. The raven haired man looked up into his best friend's eyes and saw the compassion that the carrot-top had always shown him… even when he had been a jerk.

"You don't have to worry. We understand that you didn't mean it… you're just nervous about being here right?" Unfortunately the compassion only stretched so far… for Ichigo was completely clueless about Uryu's true worries… or his jealousy.

"Yeah… I guess." Uryu nodded and followed the orange haired shinigami back into the room and sat down. Rukia waited as they took their seats again.

"Now all we have to do is wait for this chaos to die down." They heard a familiar voice walk by. Renji laughed as he spoke with the little pink haired lieutenant. Yachiru nodded.

"Yeah… So did you hear did you hear?" Yachiru almost slipped then grabbed back onto him. In his hand were two buckets a smaller pink one with a pink towel and a fresh change of clothes for her and a slightly larger one with a deep crimson towel and a change of clothes for him. She chuckled as he nearly slipped on the wet floors.

"No… I honestly can't hear… you should know that Yachiru!" He joked. "I'm as deaf as old man Yamamoto." He said sarcastically and Yachiru giggled.

"Okay so this is what I heard. I heard that Captain Hitsugaya has like a HUMONGOUS crush on Momo." She giggled and Renji eyed her over his shoulder.

"Yeah… so? Everyone knows that." He grouched, he had thought that he was going to get some juicy news.

"And I think he's finally going to do something about it." Yachiru whispered and Renji perked up. An evil smile crossed his lips as he walked into the bathing area.


	4. Pillow Fight

**Chapter: **Pillow Fight

**Author's Note:** I'm going to try and update once a week for this summer… or maybe even twice if you guys are really good ;; but uhm… yeah… here you go!

**Warning:** Minor petting… and maybe a little steamy kissing but not too much… I'm just gonna give you a taste… naughty naughty Uryu… AND NO! It's not with ICHIGO! XDDDD… and maybe some language…

The first day was finally over. Uryu collapsed onto his soft futon on the floor. He was staying in the Kuchiki household with Ichigo and Rukia. Ichigo however had decided that it was going to be fun to go out and continue the party. Rukia… being slightly freed from her inner inhibitions because of her blood-alcohol level… also went with him. Uryu opted to go to their temporary house of residence for the night and there he stayed, resting his head on the softer than silk pillow that welcomed the half dead Quincy's head. He closed his eyes and an image of the girl from before crossed his mind. She had indeed been a captain… and she had indeed been beautiful.

_"Ichigo, Uryu! I would like to introduce to you one of our newest captains… Captain Kazumi Hasegawa of the Ninth Division. Captain Hasegawa this is Ichigo Kurosaki and Uryu Ishida… respectively…" Rukia motioned to a pretty girl with long red hair that reached just below her shoulders. Her icy blue eyes bored into his, the same eyes that had almost questioningly peered into his earlier in the evening. _

_"It's very nice to meet you Ishida-kun, Kurosaki-kun." She bowed using honorifics that were not suiting to her position, as she called them equals. "I am happy to have met you… at last." Her eyes were fixated on him, glaring right through him it seemed. Her final words had acid dripping off them. He blinked a little, hiding the fact that this girl had sent a tremble of fear down his spine._

_"It's great to meet you too! How cool is it to be a captain?" Uryu allowed himself to drift away from the conversation as Ichigo continued to speak with her. He found no pleasure in talking about shinigami ways._

"That look she gave me was like a death glare." He spoke to himself again. He lay on top of his futon now, shirtless and relaxed. His muscular arms were folded behind his head, his eyes half closed, his guard completely down. Her eyes crossed his mind again and suddenly he felt his stomach tighten and his heart nearly stop dead as he heard footsteps. Here he was with his guard down in a city crammed full of shinigami.

"Are you asleep in here?" A brown haired girl opened the shoji a crack and froze. "Uhm…" She twitched, obviously he wasn't the one that she wanted. "Oh I apologize… I was looking for Rukia-sama." The girl blinked. "Just so you aren't confused… my name is Arisu Yagisawa… I uhm… I'm the lieutenant to squad nine…" She smiled earnestly.

"Oh… cool." Uryu raised an eyebrow questionably. She was a pretty girl with short spiky brown hair that stuck out all around the bottom and two spikes extended a few inches across her cheeks. She was doe-eyed with big brown eyes, extremely different from the almost luminescent icy blue eyes of her captain. He did noticed however that her sleeveless shihakusho strained slightly on her breasts. Her tanned skin rippled across finely toned arm muscles as she saluted to him.

"Sorry Ishida-kun!" She bowed slightly and disappeared back out the door. He raised his eyebrows again.

"This place keeps getting weirder and weirder." Uryu sighed deeply then closed his eyes, pulling the futon's blankets up over himself. He closed his eyes trying to get to sleep and when he finally did get to sleep a fitful dream took him.

_He stood a few yards away from the edge of a cliff, as he leaned forward slightly he could barely see the bottom where thundering waves crashed against gigantic sharp rocks. A huge gleaming white and gold dragon circled around him, seemingly egging him on to the edge of the cliff. He felt fear clench in his heart and tried to back away but instead found himself closer to the edge, closer to the edge of the water fall. _

_He stood there, on the brink of the waterfall, his arms held straight out and the dragon continuously circling around him. "Do you not trust me Uryu?" The dragon hissed._

"_Should I trust you?" His black hair whipped around him in the winds that soared up the waterfall. _

"_Perhaps… if you jump I will catch you… I shall always catch you…" He closed his eyes tightly, trying to block out the thundering noise below him. Then it happened again, the dragon nudged him and the rocks beneath his feet gave way and he fell… right back into his body. His eyes slammed open and there he was again, standing in the cold waters of the river, right at the edge of the waterfall._

_It all seemed a little weird to him but then he realized that this time the dragon was not there to nudge him over the edge of the waterfall. "WHAT THE HELL?" He shouted out loud. "IS THS DREAM SUPPOSED TO MEAN SOMETHING?" Then suddenly the world fell out from beneath him and he fell again, this time all the way down to the bottom of the waterfall and he missed the rocks, falling into the water… then into what seemed to him a black abyss… then kept falling and falling and falling until suddenly…_

"AHH!" He sat up in his futon, his eyes wide open, a cold sweat pouring down his face and chest. His chest and abdomen heaved as he fought to draw breath, trying to calm his rushing heart.

"Uryu?" His roommate sat up from next to him. He suddenly recognized Ichigo's voice and dropped himself back onto his pillow. "Uryu?"

"Yeah Ichigo… I'm here." He muttered as he rolled over in the futon, putting his back to his best friend.

"You alright?" Ichigo knew already what his answer was going to be…

"Yeah." _'Of course you're alright… because you won't tell anyone what's wrong… even if there is something wrong!'_ Ichigo fumed inside his mind but said nothing to the raven-haired man.

"Alright… it's only two… can you like… keep it down or something?" Ichigo grouched, lying back down in his futon.

"Can you keep it in your pants?" This hateful remark was followed with a snort of laughter.

"I'll have you know that_ it_ has been in my pants for many years now."

"By _it_ you mean _Rukia _right?" Suddenly a pillow slammed into the side of his head. "OW! DAMN IT ICHIGO!" He struck back, felling his friend into the floor.

"HAHAH-" -WHAM- This one had him seeing stars and he fell back onto his futon with a painful groan.

"Teach you to make fun of me…" Ichigo yawned and settled back into his futon, only to suddenly feel a pair of icy cold- "FEET!" Ichigo jump out of his futon as the Quincy's icicle like feet pressed into his lower back.

"That ought cool you off." Uryu grinned from his futon, his black hair resembling a mountain range.

"Get the fuck over yourself." Ichigo got back into his futon and settled down again with a pissed aura coming off him. Uryu smiled, pleased with himself and rolled back over, closing his eyes and falling back to sleep… only this time… his dream was much more pleasant.

_A pair of brilliant blue eyes bored into his. A whisper in his ear, a gentle touch to his face. His eyes slowly opened and he found himself lying on a Roman couch draped in what seemed like silk and velvet. He tried to sit up but instead suddenly a sword tip touched his throat lightly then slid down his bare chest. He opened his mouth to talk but instead a hand placed itself over his lips. He looked up and saw her standing there. "Captain Hasegawa?" He blinked as she sat down beside him. Her body was draped in white cloth, hanging on all the right places, baring her waist to him as well as the sides of her ribcage. Her red hair was pulled back away from her face as she slowly reached out to him, her sword now laying on the ground. She leaned across his bared chest and allowed their noses to touch._

_"Good evening." Her musical voice was soft and low as his closed the dangerously close distance between their lips. He felt her breasts press against his chest tightly and at first did not respond then he lifted a hand to her face and gently slid it down her neck as their lips met again._

_This time he gently nibbled her bottom lip, begging entrance and, much to his surprise she gave it to him. His tongue then tasted her, sweet cinnamon and mint, like the finest sugar he could have ever found. Her hand slid tantalizingly down his chest, leaving his skin tingling in its wake. His hands took their liberties, one slipped down her ribcage to her waist, gently sliding across her taut buttocks to her other hip while the other hand continued its path down the front of her body until it could cup one of the supple breasts, pert and welcoming. She leaned into his hand, her body immediately responding… their lips stayed together in a fiery open mouthed kiss, neither wanting to break it as they gasped for air._

_A voice however suddenly broke through his dream… "Uryu!" A voice he much hated hearing. "URYU!" And then she was gone…_

"URYU ISHIDA!" Ichigo shook him harshly to get him awake. The Quincy sat up in his bed, looking over at Ichigo who was fully dressed in his shihakusho. "Finally… what the hell were you dreaming about? I haven't heard you breath that hard since we had to run five miles at a sprint in gym class… three years ago." Ichigo raised an eyebrow.

"Uhm…" In his mind's eye he saw the dream that had haunted him that night. His face contorted with confused anger. Why the hell was he dreaming about someone like her? WHY?

"C'mon just get dressed… we have some free time today… I thought Rukia could show us around the place." Ichigo grinned and Uryu shook his head to clear his thoughts.

"Nah… if you don't mind… I'd like to look around on my own… now that we're on the actual inside of the Seireitei…" He smiled apologetically.

"I guess that'd be alright…" The boys looked over at Rukia who stood in the doorway. "C'mon Ichigo… let's get going… Uryu feel free to walk around but please take your cell phone with you when you do." She bowed a little to him teasingly then walked out.

"Later!" Ichigo waved as he walked out the door. Uryu frowned. _'This is going to be a fun day…'_ He then pulled the covers back over his head and went back to sleep.


	5. Ring Around The Roses

**Chapter: **Ring Around the Roses

Ichigo and Rukia walked silently through the gardens of the Seireitei, admiring the flowering trees and occasional flower patch. They spoke from time to time, usually to point something out to the other.

"So… do you think he's alright with being here?" Rukia finally spoke the question that they were both thinking. Ichigo simply turned his head to look at her as they walked.

"I haven't decided yet… he did leave rather hurriedly after dinner last night." He recalled his best friend's hasty good nights. "But I really have no idea how he's feeling quite yet."

"Hmm…" They fell back into silence as they continued their walk.

"Why doesn't she like him?" Ichigo questioned her as they stepped around another batch of beautiful irises.

"Why doesn't who- oh…" The image of the ninth captain flashed across her mind. The beautiful redhead's blue eyes narrow and deadly. "You mean… Captain Hasegawa?" She looked over at him.

"Yeah… the new captain you introduced us to… She gave Uryu a look that…" He shuddered slightly. "I thought she was going to strike him down right then and there."

"She would have too." Rukia's look darkened. "She would have if my brother hadn't come at that time…" They fell back into silence as she recalled what had happened.

_"Yes well it's great… I mean there's a lot of responsibility that goes into it but I handle it well I suppose." Captain Hasegawa answered him but then broke away from the conversation. From the head table a pair of steely grey eyes watched her walk towards Uryu. "Excuse me?" She tapped him on the shoulder. "May I speak with you?" Her blue eyes were vicious, burning with anger and pent up frustration._

_"Uhm… I suppose…" Her death glare sent a violent tremble down his spine as she began to back him up into the corner._

_"Don't be so ungrateful… I'm the reason you were allowed in the Seireitei and now… since you're so disrespectful I'm thinking that you shouldn't have been allowed." Her eyes narrowed dangerously and he felt the urge to summon his bow and teach this girl a lesson but then he felt it, her fist on his belly, her hand grasping her sword as though she were going to kill him. As he was about to summon his bow a sword touched the captain on the shoulder and she swung around, parrying the blow with her own zanpakuto._

_"Calm yourself Captain Hasegawa." Byakuya said calmly as he slid Senbonzakura back into its sheath._

"Yeah… if your brother wouldn't have kept a hamper on her we would have had skewered Uryu from dinner instead of skewered pig." Ichigo laughed, lightening the mood.

"You sure marked that one right." Rukia chuckled, looking at a sakura tree. She didn't know why but for some reason… she felt nervous. She shook her head… he was just Ichigo… she had known him for going on five years now… but for some reason she felt her heart squeeze and a her face flush as she felt his hand on her shoulder.

"Rukia?" His amber eyes were worried; he had noticed his petite friend had begun to flush. "Perhaps its this heat huh?" He questioned and stopped… "Let's stop… here… and rest a while." Ichigo smiled softly and she looked up at him. A bench sat next to a koi fish pond beneath a blooming sakura tree.

"Maybe… it is rather hot today… I wonder why." Rukia laughed almost nervously as she sat down. 'What's wrong with me… this is just Ichigo… it's just Ichigo…' She looked over at the carrot top and indigo met amber.

"Are you sure you're alright?" His eyes were soft. Rukia nodded. "Your cheeks are getting redder." Suddenly his cocky smile made another reappearance and she knew what he was thinking. She reached up a hand and placed it gently on the side of his face and as he leaned forward she slapped him hard across the face. "WHAT THE SHIT WAS THAT FOR?" He yelped.

"For thinking that!" She laughed but it still made her uneasy… what in the world was going on with her?

&&&

Light suddenly pierced the pitch-black room. The heavy shades that covered the shoji were lifted and specks of dust could be seen in the bright light of the sun. On the tatami floor, in a bundle on the futon, was Kazumi Hasegawa. The captain was unrecognizable as she was huddled into a small ball of blankets. Toshiro stood over her with his arms folded, clicking his tongue. A grumble came from the bundle as he poked it with his foot.

"C'mon Nii-san." He chided. "You're going to have to get up sometime." He poked her again and the bundle wriggled. An unintelligible protest came from the futon as his toe ground into her ribcage. "Niiiiiii-saaaaaan." He whined back as he squatted next to her. His hand gripped the blanket tightly and he tried to pull it away from her, yanking as hard as he could.

"It's futile Toshiro." Momo Hinamori told him as she watched him struggle with the bundle. Toshiro shook his head. "You're determined to get her out of bed aren't you?" A nod came from the other. "Aaaiiiyyaaaa…" She sighed. "You are going to get into trouble with her... besides… how does she make herself into that little bundle?"

"She pretzels… Nii-san!" He yanked again. "You have-to get-up!" He grunted then suddenly felt backwards as she let go of the blanket.

"Why?" Her grumpy voice spoke from her now uncovered place on the futon. Her long red hair was splayed all over the place, and her bangs were sticking up almost straight and there were pillow marks on her face and arms. The black razor back tank top that she had worn to bed didn't match the blue and white star covered boyshorts she wore, which was what Momo noticed with a chuckle. This was the most formidable captain in terms of power and she couldn't match her underwear, she found it rather hilarious.

"Because…" Toshiro tried to think of a reason.

"You have no idea do you?" Kazumi grouched. "Go away!" She slumped back onto her futon, burying her face into her pillow.

"Kaaazuuumiii!" Came a deep voice from the doorway. Renji stood there with a grin on his face, Yachiru at his elbow. The long legged woman on the floor flipped over, her blue eyes staring. "You're awake! I'm so glaaaad." Renji seemed almost too happy.

"Are you high?" Kazumi asked as she stood up. He wore his hakama with the white undershirt but he didn't have his black yukata on… the one that tucked under his hakama.

"No! I was just… being goofy… am I not allowed to do that?" Renji tilted his chin up and jutted out his jaw.

"Alright alright… why does everyone want me up this morning?" She tilted her head to the side.

"Clothes off! Take a bath! We'll get your clothes ready for you." Renji took her hand and swung her towards the door.

"Can I take my clothes off once I get to- WAH!" A dotera hit her in the face as she stepped back. "What the! ABARAI!" She fumed.

"We won't look." All of them had their backs to her. She made a face at their backs and then turned around, pulling off her black shirt, exposing the milky white skin of her breasts to the sunlight and then pulled off her boyshorts. Then she froze as she slipped one arm into the heavy but loose robe. There she was, standing in all her naked glory in front of the one man she had not wanted to see that morning.

&&&

Ichigo laughed again as they continued their walk through the trees. He knew what was bothering him however and as they walked he tried to talk himself into telling her… or at least kissing her.

_'C'mon Ichigo! Grow some balls…'_ He heard the haunting voice of his hollow in the back of his mind.

_'Maybe I don't want to ruin what I already have…'_ He replied as his hand brushed his housemate's hand. He gulped, there was definitely something wrong with this picture. He felt his cheeks flush just a little bit.

"You alright Ichigo?" She knew he felt it too… there was something uncomfortable in the air… something that hadn't been there before. When he nodded she fell silent again…

_'What do you have coward?'_ Hichigo griped. _'You are such a pathetic bastard.'_

Ichigo felt his blood rise. _'Shut your damn face.'_ He felt his fist furthest away from Rukia clench.

_'Ooooh! Have I made you angrryyyyy?'_ The inner voice taunted.

_'Hichigo!'_ He hissed and the hollow fell silent._ 'That's better… and maybe you're right.'_ This comment was met with a '_damn straight_' from the hollow in his head. _'Maybe I should do something about it… but not right now…'_

"Are you sure you're alright?" He heard her laugh. "You seem so much more serious than usual… and you're lost in thought…" She almost giggled. She felt herself getting giddier and giddier by the second.

"Yeah I'm sure I'm alright." He then felt her small hand fix itself into his palm and lace its slight fingers through his. His cheeks flushed a little but then he grew used to it, it felt good, having her cool fingers laced through his.

&&&

At dinner that evening Kazumi sat with her lieutenant talking quietly with Byakuya and Renji about some random topic… but her mind was elsewhere… her eyes were fixated on Byakuya but her mind was fixated on her embarrassment earlier in the day. Renji blinked as suddenly her voice became angry.

"Whoa! Captain Hasegawa! Control your voice…" He laughed a little trying to keep her under control.

"Now what were you saying about Mayuri's experiments Kazumi? His experiments cannot be as interesting as the mystery of his missing ears." A snicker was draw from the other three. Arisu giggled from behind her captain.

"Oh I was just saying-huh?" She looked over as they heard a yell from the other end of the table.

"No! Nemu! You dolt what are you doing?" Mayuri was standing up and his lieutenant was eating one of the bread baskets.

"What the-?" Renji's face almost cracked from serious to hilarious but he restrained himself from laughing out loud. Kazumi and Byakuya even had to try and hold back smiles as Mayuri stormed out with his lieutenant.

"Well… that was rather odd…" Kazumi chuckled darkly. "But his experiments are rather interesting… I mean… his work with the Quincy." She mentioned something that caused Uryu's hearing to perk. He knew she was doing this for his benefit.

"Yes… that was a rather unfortunate period in his life." Byakuya frowned slightly, knowing well what she was doing… she was egging the Quincy on.

"Wouldn't you say Quincy-boy?" She hissed across the table. Hs eyes narrowed at her. "I believe that his work with this Quincy was the most rewarding thing that he has done for us… I mean… if it wasn't for him… we wouldn't know anything about the Quincy… who they are or where they come from… because they're traitors… they did turn on us you know…"

"Captain…" Arisu put a hand on her captain's forearm to settle her down.

"But of course… why would you care huh Quincy-boy… since you don't know what loyalty is either… and obviously you're also ecchi." His face flushed with anger and embarrassment as she stared him down. "But then again… you're a Quincy so… you wouldn't understand us anyways… we're too high on the superiority board." Uryu did nothing against her but instead continued to eat his food, his hands shaking. He had never heard anyone rag on the Quincy as much as she did but he was going to try hard not to let it affect him.

"Captain Hasegawa…" Byakuya's warning voice didn't phase her as she continued.

"You seem like one of those kinds of guys who just uses girls and throws them away… or are you too much of a pervert to get a girlfriend…no… Quincy have to reproduce somehow… it's unfortunate that you have to… otherwise we would be free of the Quincy… of course… if you and your father died we would be free of them forever… not that anyone would care… they never affected the world when they were around… what makes anyone think that their disappearance off the face of the planet would have any effect. They're useless anyways…" Suddenly her intended target slammed his hand onto the table as he stood.

"Excuse me." His eyes shifted towards her and icy, uncaring blue met tear-filled cerulean. And then he turned and stormed out of the dining hall as a smile of victory crossed her lips. Then suddenly a hand slapped her across the face and then another hit her the other way. Her head jerked to the side as both Renji and Arisu smacked her.

"Captain… that was uncalled for." Arisu scolded and Kazumi looked at her food. "You shouldn't allow yourself to become so nasty." Renji nodded as he sat back down. Byakuya looked between the two in a stunned silence. They had just smacked the captain with the worst temper… and she was sitting next to him… and he was unarmed momentarily.

&&&

Uryu tried hard to breathe as he ran out into the open air. His anger as caused his body to shut down. He slammed his fist into the wooden railing, hearing the satisfactory crunch then he placed both of his hands on the wood and leaned, evening his upper body out, running his torso parallel to the ground. _'It wasn't my fault… was it?'_ He thought back to what had happened earlier that afternoon.

_He froze in the doorway, her naked body exposed to him. His eyes were fixated on her, taking in her protruding collarbone, the milky white skin of her breasts peaked with pert coral from the cold of the morning air, the way her stomach muscles rippled beneath tanned skin, the way her navel was slightly more caved in than the muscles of her stomach and the curly patch of dark red hair that hid her womanhood. Her long, muscular legs were also exposed to him and he watched her shapely legs shuddered slightly. Then the sight was hidden as she pulled the robe tightly around herself and he suddenly saw stars. She brought her fist down as hard as she could to the top of his head._

"That wasn't my fault… she was the idiot who goes around flashing people." He told himself out loud. "And all that she said at dinner wasn't necessary." He gripped the wooden railing harder and heard another crunch as it splintered beneath his powerful hands. "It wasn't necessary…" He gritted his teeth, his grip tightening and suddenly he felt the railing give and it snapped in his hands. "Damn." He let go and walked off, he didn't know where he was going but all he knew was that he had to get away from that damn girl. "Fuck… fuck this… fuck her… fuck THIS!" He nearly yanked his hair out. But the image of her naked body forced itself back into his mind and then he felt the frustration build. "FFFUUUUCCCKKKK!" His scream of frustration could be heard from the other side of the Seireitei.


	6. Bloody Mary

**Author's Note: **Alright here's the deal... I'm not gonna post chapter seven unless I get two more reviews. That means that I need to have a total of five reviews before I post again. Please review!

**Chapter: **Bloody Mary

When Rukia and Ichigo emerged from the dining hall they saw something they had not expected. The wooden railing that had once stood was now broken as if by human hands. Rukia looked over at Ichigo and he nodded. "Yeah… I guess it was him… especially after what that captain said to him."

_"…you're a Quincy so… you wouldn't understand us anyways… we're too high on the superiority board." _Her voice echoed through Rukia's head. _"…Quincy have to reproduce somehow… it's unfortunate that you have to… otherwise we would be free of the Quincy…"_ Rukia had flinched during the captain's little speech… knowing that it was bothering Uryu… but he had said nothing… and done nothing… she was surprised at the self control that he had shown.

"I don't know what drove her to say such cruel things to him…" Rukia fretted. She knew exactly what made her say the things she did. And she had a right to be angry but not a right to pick on someone who had nothing to do with the things that had happened to her. They walked silently towards the Kuchiki household and heard something slam from within. Rukia and Ichigo exchanged looks then ran into the house.

"Uryu!" Ichigo slammed open the shoji to see his best friend standing, his bow out, his arm still pulled back as though he had just let an arrow go, and judging from the smoking of his fingers and the wall he had done just that.

"That was my favorite bust." Rukia pouted a little but knew not to say too much… otherwise she knew he would shoot at them too.

"Uryu, man! Are you alright?" Ichigo reached out to put his hand on his best friend's shoulder but felt the spiritual pressure that was radiating off him and stopped, it wasn't usual for his friend to be so angry. He was usually the calm and collected one.

"Yeah… I'm fine." The Quincy's voice was dark and raspy, his chest heaving from bottled anger. "I'm just fine." He fumed.

&&&

She lay on the floor of her bedroom, the tatami cutting into her skin. She felt the cool breeze brush against her mostly bare skin as she traced a spot on the floor. Her black underwear this time matched her black razorback but the razorback was folded up around her breasts, exposing her tanned and toned stomach to the midnight air. Her long legs were spread, her feet relaxed. She sighed and closed her eyes. Sleep was eluding her. She was now merely praying for sleep. Her conscience bore down on her for what she had said that afternoon. She sighed deeply again.

Another hour passed and she heard the bell sound midnight. Her eyes grew heavy but every time that she closed them she would see his face again. She grunted angrily… why should she care about that stupid sap?

_'Because… his family is tied to yours.'_ Her inner voice told her. She hissed and rolled over, burying her face in the pillow.

_'Because you won't leave me alone!'_ She groaned inwardly. The voice had been bothering her for some time now.

_'Most people would call me a blessing.'_ The voice complained back.

_'I don't.'_ Came the reply to her inner voice. _'Why the hell can't I sleep?'_ She fell back onto her back again. _'I just want to sleep._' She turned her head, looking out the window. Again across her mind's eye was his face. His damn face. She frowned and slammed her fist against the floor angrily. "What the hell is wrong with me?" She said out loud.

_'You should just try listening to me… for a moment at least and then you can sleep.'_ The voice spoke again.

_'Fine… anything to go to sleep.'_ She folded her arms across her chest. As the voice continued Kazumi felt sleep take her body and she slowly but steadily drifted off into a fitful sleep… a sleep that she knew she would wake from sweating as she often did now.

_She walked through the beautifully kept garden, humming a little tune as she did. Her white kimono dragged on the ground a little because she was too short for it. The little red headed girl smiled up at a woman who stood above her, holding her hand. The woman had long black hair, which fanned over her shoulders as she played with the little girl._

_"Oba-sama! This one!" She giggled as she picked a flower from the beautiful garden. The older woman laughed as the red-haired girl handed her a flower._

_"Thank you Kazumi." The older woman took the flower from her with a little bow and the little girl curtsied. _

_"You're welcome!" She smiled. Then the front door opened to the mansion and a tall red haired man stood there in a shihakusho. _

_"You're spoiling her Akiko!" The man laughed, his red beard in a goatee around his lips._

_"I will spoil her if I want to… she is after all my niece." The woman tilted her head as the little girl ran to the man._

_"Daddy!" She giggled as he swung her up in his arms._

_"And how is my little girl today?"_

_"I'm fine… I'm AAAHH!" She giggled._

_Suddenly everything changed. The red haired man from before lay on the floor, his other clan members lay scattered around him, blood pouring from the various wounds in their bodies. "Daddy? Kaisuke? Momma? Kosuke?" A door creaks open, the little redheaded girl stepped out of the closet where her bothers had put her. But what met her eyes was not what she expected… "DADDY!" She ran to the man, surrounded in a pool of his own blood._

_"My little girl." He whispered through the blood that dripped from the corners of his mouth. "Kazumi…" He lifted a shaking hand up to gently stroke her hair. "I'm glad I could protect you." The little girl's eyes filled up with tears._

_"DADDY! DADDY!" She screamed and cradled his head in her arms as he fell lifeless… "DADDY!_

_"DADDY!"_

"DADDY!" She shrieked in real-life, suddenly a pair of strong arms wrapped around her and brought her head to a woman's chest. "A-Arisu…" Tears poured from the captain's eyes. "Arisu…" She wrapped her arms around her best friend's waist as she rocked her captain back and forth, trying to calm her down.

"Hush… everything will be alright Kazumi…" She hated seeing her best friend like this… it was because of the Quincy's being here that she was so panicked. "I'm here now… I'll make sure nothing else happens…" Kazumi nodded, sobbing into her best friend's tank top. "I'm here now…" She whispered, rocking her back and forth.

&&&

Ichigo sat up, sitting out in the garden early in the morning. It had been a few days since the captain's rant about Quincy, however… the Quincy nor the captain were showing signs of getting over it. Ichigo sighed again, resting his elbows on his knees and lacing his fingers through his hair. There must be something he could do to help him out… There must be some way for him to help him…

"There's nothing you can do… you just have to be there for him." Rukia's voice broke through his thoughts and he looked up as she sat down next to him.

"How do you always know what I'm thinking?" He asked softly and she smiled.

"I can just tell… because it's usually what I'm thinking." She leaned on his shoulder slightly, another form of intimate contact he wasn't used to, however… it didn't bother him in any way, shape, or form.

"Yeah." His hand reached over and gently cupped her chin. "Rukia-I-" She leaned forward before he could do anything and locked her lips over his. The carrot top was surprised at first but then relaxed as he realized that this wasn't just a dream. Rukia Kuchiki was really kissing him. He slid a hand back to cradle her head while the other gently wrapped around her waist, pulling them close enough that he could feel her heartbeat against his. She pulled away from him, nuzzling her face into his neck. He rested his chin on the top of her hair as she started to cry.

"I can see that he's in so much pain…" She looked up at him. His amber eyes were soft again, the way she was used to them. "She's going to cause him more before the end… I know it… I just know it…" She whispered and he leaned down, planting another kiss on her lips. She leaned up into him again.

&&&

She walked along the paths, chewing on a senbon as she walked. The toothpick like needle bobbed up and down as she fiddled with it. She was aggravated. She wouldn't be having these stupid dreams if it wouldn't have been for that damn Quincy's arrival. She flicked the senbon with her teeth as she walked, her face showing extreme distaste for everything she walked by. Her red hair was pulled back and splayed about behind her head, she held her hair up with the kanseikan… the ceremonial white head gear that the head of the Kuchiki family also wore.

"I thought you never left your house for fear of meeting a Quincy." Uryu said from behind a tree. She stopped dead in her tracks and slowly turned her head towards him. The Quincy stood from where he had been sitting. "Captain Hasegawa." He tilted his head to the side. In his hand was a book, Hamlet by Shakespeare.

"Quincy-boy." Her eyebrows twitched upwards as she spat out her senbon. Though he was a Quincy… there was something undeniably sexy about him, perhaps it was the way his dark hair accented his brilliant blue eyes or maybe it was the way he walked, proudly and self-assured… or even his physical body for from what she could see he was fairly muscular. She then noticed that he had backed her against one of the sakura trees, the blossom petals falling softly through the air around them.

"My name is Uryu Ishida." He towered over her, his shoulders set he felt another wave of anger take him but it cooled down a little as he saw her smiling slyly. "What is wrong with you?" He hissed, placing his hands on either side of her head against the tree.

"I'm just wondering what you're going to do next." Her eyes locked with his. "Like I said Quincy aren't good at anything so I doubt you've even planned half of-" Suddenly his lips descended on hers, hard and rough but then soft and careful… he was switching gears so quickly that it practically blew her mind. He nibbled her bottom lip then teasingly sucked on the top then forced his tongue into her mouth as his hands began their exploration, one pulled her gi out of her uniform while the other opened it. His left hand began to feel her stomach as his right sunk its way into the back of her hakama, his hand resting over her tight rear end which he squeezed, pulling her body tightly against his as his lips conquered hers and his hand cupped a breast.

The descended into fiery kisses that left them both breathless. She, however, knew how wrong this was… she knew she should break away… that she needed to break away but the feeling of his calloused hand on her breast was better than being on a dope-high. Then suddenly everything was gone, his hands were withdrawn and his lips were pulled away from hers and his entire body was removed and as she opened her eyes her first reaction was to yell but then realized that this was a good thing…

"Have fun denying that." He looked at her over his shoulder. Her gi was opened, her breasts exposed beneath their wrappings, her hair was messy, her cheeks flushed and her breathing hard. For some reason… seeing her like that made him chuckle. She had needed that one… and it had been coming to her. "See ya." He hummed a little tune as he walked off in another direction.

"OOOOH!" She fumed angrily and stomped her foot. "I will kill him!" She slammed her fist into the sakura tree and half of the blossoms fell from the branches.

&&&

"So he did what to you?" Renji laughed at the dinner table that night.

"Yes! He pulled open my gi and started feeling me up!" She huffed, shoveling food down. Byakuya even had to laugh at the Quincy's guts.

"So… why did he do this?" Renji questioned as she served herself another serving of lo mein noodles.

"Because he's- OOOH- I have no IDEA! But just thinking about it makes me MAD!" She slopped another serving onto her plate.

"But! It has seemed to have brought back her appetite." Arisu made a joke out of her captain's anger and Byakuya laughed along with Renji.

"This is not funny." She hissed at them. "This is far from funny… that damn Quincy has made a fool of me now… and I'm going to get him for it… I turn him over to Mayuri before I'm done and make it a family affair." She then shoved more food into her mouth. The Quincy would pay for what he had done… she would make him pay.

&&&

Uryu lay on his bed, his arms folded behind his head and his eyes closed. He drew back the memory from earlier in the afternoon… she had been a fiery kisser. But obviously not experienced. He felt a smile twitch at the corner of his mouth. She was ending up being a challenge. He did feel better now though… he was going to beat her at her own game… he knew he was going to. He heard the shoji door open and the sound of a kiss, the gentle brush of lips on lips, the sigh of two people in love having to part for the night. That was when he felt the pang of jealousy. It was back… and now here he was… almost two weeks after that first day and he was still jealous. He pursed his lips. He would have to do something about this.

Ichigo made his way to his futon a few feet away from Uryu. Uryu heard him pulling off his gi and undershirt and he almost laughed. Ichigo stumbled a little over the hakama and a -thunk- could be heard from the other side of the room. Uryu buried his face into his pillow, fighting back a laugh. He then heard his best friend getting into his futon with a sigh of comfort.

"Ichigo?" The carrot top heard the deep voice of his best friend in the darkness. "May I ask you a question… I mean another after that one… or are you too sleepy to answer me?" Uryu spoke out.

"I suppose I could answer you if you make it quick."

"How else can I get back at her for humiliating me?" He folded his arms behind his head. Ichigo thought about this for a second, well knowing that Uryu was serious.

"I don't think I should get in on this one buddy." Ichigo replied solemnly but heard a grunt in return. He knew that this wasn't the answer Uryu was looking for. "Fine… you can…" The door opened and Rukia stood in the doorway.

"What are you two talking about?" Rukia walked into the room, shutting the shoji behind her. "Because it sounded shady." She frowned at the two scheming boys.

"We weren't talking about anything that concerns you Rukia…" Uryu hissed at her and she felt the anger flare again. She obviously wasn't wanted in the room.

"Well all I can say to you is don't get caught." She shook her head as the other two exchanged looks.

"We wouldn't do anything that would cause for you to say such a think Rukia Kuchiki… now stop speculating and go to bed." Ichigo's smirk painted across his face then disappeared as she stared at him before walking out the door.

"So what were you saying?" Uryu looked back at his best friend and the carrot top looked back.

"I was saying that I didn't want to get involved because it was dangerous and if we were to get caught it would be our heads on the chopping block." Ichigo grinned over at the raven-haired man.

"So… what would we get caught at?" Uryu smiled teasingly and Ichigo smirked back. "Anything interesting?"

"Perhaps…"

&&&

Kazumi sat on her haunches with Toshiro and Renji on either side of her respectively. They were gathered around a small pond of koi and they were eyeing the fish as they swam around the pool of water.

"So what are we going to do again nii-san?" Toshiro blinked over at his former sensei and she looked back.

"We're going to take them and put them in Byakuya's room, torn up like someone had just ripped them apart. Then we'll blame it on him." She smiled evilly and Renji and Toshiro exchanged looks again.

"I don't know how well that'll work nii-san." He raised an eyebrow up. His nii-san turned her head to look at him.

"Ohh… but I do… I will make it work… I will humiliate that idiot… just as much if not more than he has already embarrassed me… I will make him pay." Her voice grew dark. They were rather glad that her current level of anger was merely at a state when she would play harmless pranks instead of blowing everything in her path to smithereens.

"Kazumi… how are we going to get the fish into his room?" Toshiro and Kazumi looked over at the red haired lieutenant. He backed away slowly. "No! No! I am not going to do it because then I'll be caught! NO! You two need to-GAH!" They tackled him and forced his face into the water.

"Say uncle!" Toshiro shouted at him. Renji struggled against them but the two teenager's combined strength was too much for even him.

"UNCLE!" He gasped as they brought him out of the water. "UNCLE!" They let go of him and he -fell back onto the ground. "F-ah-ine… ah-I'll do it." He panted. "I'll do it." Toshiro and Kazumi exchanged looks then gave each other a high five.

"This is going to be the best payback ever!" Toshiro chuckled, knowing well that they would get in severe trouble if they found out… but for some reason he felt so giddy when he was with his nii-san… like nothing could touch him because he was invincible.

"So are you going to do it?" Kazumi asked out of nowhere. She sat back on her haunches again and looked over at the young captain. He looked over with a dull look on his face.

"Going to do what?" He blinked and she looked at him pointedly. The white haired boy blushed furiously. Then his face became serious.

"Maybe… maybe not…" He replied. When he was around his nii-san he really did feel like he could do anything…

&&&

Later that same day Momo walked silently along the paths of the gardens, listening to the wind whistle through the tree's branches. She smiled as a bird landed near her. She reached over towards it but paused as she sensed a strong spiritual pressure. Nothing in the soul society was secret if you had a strong spiritual pressure and not enough control… apparently this person wanted to be found.

"Shiro-chan!" She called out, knowing well who the spiritual pressure belonged to. "Toshiro!" She called again but instead only heard a snicker. "Captain Hitsugaya?" She pushed aside the bush to find him hiding there, trying not to laugh. "I found you." He looked up at her startled.

"Oh… uhm… Hinamori." Toshiro gulped a little. She smiled and held out her hand. "Why do you always have to treat me like a child?" He stood up and she blinked.

"Because you are… Toshiro… you are younger than me you know…" She grinned again but he folded his arms across his chest angrily.

"Just 'cause I'm younger gives you the right to make me feel like a child?" He stated back. She stopped and blinked at him. He was being more serious than usual…

"Uhm… I-" She was cut off as the now taller Hitsugaya pulled her in and kissed her. She felt her eyes shoot open then flutter closed. His lips were a pressure against her, pushing in with such force that she thought she was seeing stars. As he coaxed her mouth open she relaxed, letting his tongue probe her mouth, it was the most wonderful feeling that she had ever experienced. One of his muscular arms wrapped around her waist, the other hand was resting on the side of her face, gently holding her head in place.

"Toshiro." She breathed as they broke apart. He smiled down at her. "Why?" Her eyes bored into his and he shrugged.

"Nii-san talked me into it." He smiled a little more, fully self-satisfied.

"Kazumi… remind me to thank her." She leaned up and kissed him back. "Because I really should." She whispered against his lips.

&&&

Kazumi lay back on her back again, her limbs eagle spread as she sighed. She smiled a little as she knew that Toshiro had finally done what he had been saying he would do… her eyes filled with tears. She sniffed a little and tried to hold back the painful droplets. But as she did that just made it harder for her to breath. As she fell into sobs she sat up and buried her face into her hands, crying into the night. "Why me? Why does everything happen to me?" She choked through harsh sobs.

The shoji to her room slid open and a figure stood in the doorway. "Kazumi." A deep voice echoed through the room and she looked up.

"Momaru?"


	7. Stranger Danger

**Author's Note: **You know the deal… no post if I don't get five more reviews. That means that I need to have a grand total of 10! So review please!

**Chapter: **Stranger Danger

**Warning:** Adult content… no sex but some… heated petting… so… read on!

"Why me? Why does everything happen to me?" She choked through harsh sobs.

The shoji to her room slid open and a figure stood in the doorway. "Kazumi." A deep voice echoed through the room and she looked up.

"Momaru?" She blinked as the man walked over to her. He knelt beside her and she immediately threw herself into his arms. "Oh Momaru…" She pressed her face into his chest, trying to bury herself there. He sat back and pulled her up against him, gently stroking her hair.

"Shh… it's alright Kazumi… everything's alright…" He kissed the top of her head, burying his nose into her hair. "Everything's alright now." He smiled softly.

&&&

"So he's really back?" Renji looked over at Byakuya. The black haired man nodded solemnly. "Really… that oughta make Captain Hasegawa happy." He smiled a little. Maybe this day wouldn't be so bad after all.

Kazumi walked into the dining hall accompanied by a young man with spiky brown hair. His bright emerald eyes sparkled as he continuously teased his partner. She giggled girlishly as he pinched her side, making her let out a squeal of laughter. The man was tall, 6'2" at least and his long white haori whipped through the air as he walked briskly behind her. His eyebrows arced up in a happy smile as he found himself content with his surroundings. Yes, the captain of the third guard squad was feeling good to be back.

"Captain Manabe." Retsu Unohana tilted her head towards him as they walked past and he waved gleefully.

"Retsu! It's good to see you!" He tried to stop and talk but his accompaniment grabbed his hand and pulled him off. "See you later!" He laughed as he followed the redhead.

"Momaru." Renji and Momaru grabbed each other's heads and head butted with a laugh. Byakuya shook his head as Kazumi sat down beside him, a smile on her face that he, nor the rest of the Seireitei, had seen since the Quincy had come.

"So Renji! Have you and Arisu hooked up yet?" He questioned blatantly as he sat down between the aforementioned lieutenant and the crimson haired captain.

"Gah! The first thing you ask me is about my love life Manabe? Haven't you ever heard of formalities first?" He seemed rather bemused by his friend's returning. "Why did you come back?" The question suddenly shot Momaru back to the night before.

_"Why did you come back?" She whispered to him. The two of them lay on her futon, wrapped in each other's arms tightly. Her head rested on his upper arm which was extended over the pillow. _

_"I sensed that you were in pain… and I told you after that night that I would never let any harm come to you…" He muttered and his lips gently caressed her ear and the nape of her neck, she sighed at the gesture then laughed a little._

_"We're back where we started from huh?" She smiled up at her best friend._

_"You don't love me." He stated plainly. She curled against him, his other arm bringing itself down to wrap around her waist._

_"How do you know?" She questioned as he rested his chin on the top of her head._

_"Because you don't I know you would like to but… you know what would happen." He smiled and he felt her tremble. "No… hush… no more tears will be spilt for me." He brought her face up, damp with another wave of fresh tears. He leaned down and kissed each tear then his lips made a tender line of kisses down each of her eyelids. "I don't want them to be." He whispered, pulling her even closer than before._

_"Momaru… you don't want me to love you?" She looked up at him._

_"You too much of a sister to me… and you know it." He brought a hand up to stroke her hair back from her face. "You know it."_

_"I know… but I just wish we hadn't grown up together." She laughed a little. "I wish that we…" He put a finger to her lips. _

_"No you don't. And I don't either. The times that we had together were brilliant and life changing. If I wouldn't have met you I'd-" She kissed him gently, their lips staying together for a period of time before he took over, bringing his lips down hard on hers, her mouth opened to allow him access and he took it, moving his tongue so quickly that it left her breathless as their lips meshed together._

_"What happened to just being friends?" She kissed a path down his jaw._

_"We are just friends…" She chuckled as he whispered back._

_"Yeah… we are… but we're more than that too." She laughed as he poked her ribs._

"Huh? Why did I come back? Kazumi of course… she wasn't doing well so I came back." He grinned, wrapping an arm around the back of her waist and resting his hand on her hip. She giggled a little and shifted closer to him.

A ways away at the table that had now been siphoned off from the rest of the Seireitei was Rukia, Ichigo and Uryu. Uryu however had his eyes fixed on Momaru. For some reason he wanted to walk up and punch the guy. There was just something about him that made him angry.

_'Maybe it's because he's distracting her from me? Nah… that would almost sound like jealousy…'_

_'Maybe you ARE jealous?'_

_'NO! Why would I be jealous of him? It's that dumb ass girl!'_ He hissed back to the voice.

_'Oookay… I think that this is starting to get more serious than we thought.'_ The voice laughed haughtily.

_'Shut your face before I shut it for you.'_ The voice fell silent. Uryu was then left to hink about this problem silently. He chewed his food slowly, pondering this predicament. Why in the world was he feeling jealousy… perhaps it's because he hadn't gotten to play his last trick on her… maybe it was because… maybe since this guy was here he wouldn't be able to get her alone to play his trick on her… maybe it was because… he shook his head to stop thinking about it and he tried to push it to the back of his mind. At which time his mind decided to conjure up the image of her naked body and he felt himself groan lightly in frustration.

"Uryu… you alright?" Ichigo looked over at him. The Quincy nodded and stood up, looking for a way out of this room. "The exit's that way dude but uhm-" He blinked as his best friend escaped faster than he had ever seen him move. One second he was there, the next he was gone.

"He's gone…" Rukia stated rather plainly but he knew that she was thinking the same thing because her head was tilted to the side curiously.

The two of them however were not the only ones watching his quick escape. A pair of emerald green eyes were fixated on him as he disappeared. He put a hand on Kazumi's shoulder as he stood up. "I have to go to the bathroom, are the bathrooms still in the same place?" He questioned and most of the people at the table nodded. "Alright then… I'll be right back." He whispered in her ear and planted a kiss just behind her ear then walked off, humming a little tune.

"He's going out to the Quincy isn't he?" Renji asked his captain and Byakuya nodded solemnly. Kazumi watched her best friend walk out of the room and also stood but Renji's hand stopped her. "Just wait… let's not get everyone involved at once..." He smile genially and she sat down, folding her arm.

"Damn it… I knew this would happen." She hissed.

&&&

"So… how involved in this little mess are you?" The shinigami captain fell into step with his Quincy counterpart.

"Me? Who the hell are you?" He stared at him blankly.

"Me dear boy? I am Momaru Manabe… I am Kazumi Hasegawa's best friend and cohort in anything dangerous or explosive. And you are causing her a lot of pain." His green eyes sparked with malice and Uryu saw this.

"I am? Really because she seems to be the one that is in the wrong. I haven't insulted her at all since I've been here yet she's insulted my kind several times in the past few days." He shot at the shinigami.

"Your kind destroyed her family." Momaru fired back. This made Uryu stop dead in his tracks. "Yeah that's right… eight years ago three Quincy showed up on the Hasegawa doorstep and slaughtered the entire family… right before her eyes." He watched at the Quincy slowly turned to face him. "You heard me correctly…" His eyes narrowed dangerously. "The. Entire. Family." He punctuated each word viciously.

"That's impossible." He shot back at him. The shinigami spat at him.

"Bull shit. She-"

"Momaru." He heard her soft voice from behind him. The brunet spun around to face her. There she stood in her haori, her long red hair pulled back in her kanseikan, spiking out about her head. "Enough." She held out her hand to him. "Enough." She said again and he back down, his figure suddenly becoming les threatening as he moved towards her and took her hand. To her however his eyes were boring into hers questioningly. Uryu watched as she pulled him off, leading him away from the Quincy. He blinked a little but then felt relief overtake him.

&&&

Kazumi sat now beneath a cherry blossom tree, Momaru sitting next to her solemnly. Their talk had been heated and quick. She shut him down quickly. She knew his too well for his own good.

_"So… I'm not allowed to hurt him?"_

_"If you would stop ignoring your duties and come to the meetings more often… then I think you would find your entire world opened up to you!" She said sarcastically. He thumped her on the back of her head._

_"Shut your mouth… I was being serious."_

_"So was I." She retorted with a devilish grin._

_"Why don't you want anyone to hurt him?" He questioned slightly._

_"Because… I want to see… something…" She looked into the koi pool. They had ended up replacing the fish in the pool. The game had been called of since Momaru's arrival._

_"What is it about this Quincy that is bothering you?" He tilted his head._

_"He's… different… he's not quite like the rest of the Quincy bastards."_

_"You know… if I didn't know any better I would say that you were falling for this guy." –SPLASH- she grabbed him by the head and threw him into the koi pool. He came back above the water spluttering and hissing._

_"Shut up!" She stood up but one look at him and she burst into laughter, tears coming to her eyes as her best friend, soaked to the bone, pulled a fish out of his gi._

"So you really are set on protecting this guy…" Momaru wrung out his clothes. She nodded, her hands in her lap. She looked down at her fingers, pressing the tips together gingerly. "Weird… because a few years ago you would have given your right leg to destroy him and his father."

"Maybe I've grown up since then Momaru… it's not like I don't hate him any less but… there's just something telling me that I should wait to see what he's going to do." She looked over at him. Momaru smiled secretly. He was already making an assumption… and it was fairly safe to assume that his best friend was starting to fall for this enemy of hers.

"Just be careful and don't dance with the enemy Kazi." He reverted to her childhood nickname. "Just let him stay for a while longer then and just completely ignore him." He smiled, patting her on the shoulder.

"Yeah… maybe I'll do that." She leaned against him, not caring that he was wet.

"Yeah… maybe you should do that." He chuckled and wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

&&&

Uryu sat behind the wall a ways away from them, listening to their conversation. So she was trying to protect him? Why the hell would she want to do that? And what the hell does she mean 'See what I'm going to do????' He heard them move and ran off, disappearing from his position on the wall to somewhere three hundred yards away.

He slowed to a walk, scratching his head as he walked. He found himself thinking about her again, wondering what mysteries could possibly hide behind her angry façade.

"_Your kind destroyed her family… Yeah that's right… eight years ago three Quincy showed up on the Hasegawa doorstep and slaughtered the entire family… right before her eyes."_

"What did he mean by that? I'm the only Quincy left… other than my father but…" He blinked a little as he turned a corner.

"…_three Quincy showed up…" _Those words chased each other around in his head as he though hard about what he had heard form the captain's mouth. He turned another corner and suddenly he found himself in a beautiful garden, huge cherry blossom trees created a forest of pink. The ground was littered with pink petals and as he walked through he noticed the brilliant green grasses and the large pond to his left and floating on the pond's surface were water lilies, big beautiful blooms. A bench was placed beside it, beneath a cherry blossom tree. He walked over and slid his hand across the cool marble and suddenly in his mind's eye he saw her body again. Her skin must be a smooth as marble… soft as silk… he felt his face flush slightly.

"Well look who is…" He froze as he heard a familiar voice, a voice that he hadn't wanted to hear.

"Captain Hasegawa…" He turned around to face her, his hands behind him. She stood in the entryway to the garden and she swung the gate closed behind her. It was then he noticed the huge rose bushes that covered the walls. There were white and red roses all over the place around the garden. Her hand graced a dying patch of violets and suddenly they sprung to life, the scent of flowers lifted into the air again and he closed his eyes, the smell was beautiful.

"Ishida-kun." She retorted. "Don't you think the garden's lovely?" She asked softly.

"Yes…" He opened his eyes to look at her, she had her back to him and she was tending to a broken branch on one of the cherry blossom trees. "Is this your garden?" He asked, slowly walking towards her. She shook her head as she lifted the branch, sealing it back to the tree with her spiritual energy.

"It was my mother's… she always loved gardening." She smiled over at a patch of azaleas the pretty blossoms were smiling up at her. She felt him come closer and the hair on the back of her neck prickled.

"Where is your mother?" He asked softly, his deep voice reaching her ears but not reaching her mind.

"My-my mother?" She turned to face him, only to find that he was only a few inches away. "She's dead… didn't Momaru tell you that?" She turned again and walked away from him. He watched her walk off and realized that she was fighting against something that he didn't know about… was there something more to the story? He walked off after her again but stopped as she continued talking. "Three Quincy showed up on my front doorstep on my tenth birthday. We were having a party for me… my uncles my aunts… my grandparents all the way back to my great great great grandparents. My entire family… all nearly forty of them came to my birthday…" She paused. "I… I had sensed them coming but… I didn't want to say anything… because I was selfish and I wanted to continue my birthday." She whispered in a tone almost too low for him to hear. There he had hit on it. She felt guilt for not telling them. His eyes softened. He knew what it was like to feel guilty but blame it on other people. "So I didn't tell them… When they did come their attack was a surprise… and my entire family panicked and hid me away. The Quincy never saw me… they slaughtered my family and left." She looked over at him.

"So what happened to them? Did they… get away?" He watched her walk over to a patch of lavender.

"Yes they did." She took in a deep breath. "But I hunted them down." Her icy blue eyes shifted to look at him out of the corner of her eye. He gulped. "And I killed them all." She reached down and pushed a stem of lavender back into the bunch.

"You were so young." He realized that when she said hunted them down she meant immediately. She nodded slightly. "But I wasn't aware that there were any Quincy left at the time." He watched her walk instead of a patch of lotus flowers.

"You aren't aware of as much as you think you are Quincy-boy." She told him. He felt a smile tug at the corner of his mouth as he realized that she had stopped using formalities.

"Alright so we've covered that but what does that have to do with me?" He questioned as she stepped away from him, walking towards the bench.

"You're a Quincy aren't you?" He noticed that she seemed to be avoiding him. He walked over to her and hung an arm around the tree behind her, swinging around to hang his body beside her.

"So?" He questioned and she looked over at him. She seemed a little stunned that he had moved so quickly.

"So… you're exactly like them… they broke it too…" She leaned forward slightly so that their noses touched, just barely and he felt his heart stop for just that second. For some reason even just the tiniest touch of her skin made him freeze but what she did next made his entire functional body shut down as she closed her eyes and leaned forward, closing the dangerously close distance between their lips. He leaned forward, sliding onto the bench next to her, one hand bracing him as he leaned, the other resting on her thigh.

Her hands reached up and laced through his hair, brushing it back from his face. His free hand slid up her body from her hip, sliding under her hoari to the bare skin there. She shifted closer to him, giving his hand more reach. His calloused hand on her bare skin made her body prickle, she felt goose bumps rise up on her skin as their lips met again, this time in a passionate open mouthed kiss that neither had the want to break apart. He pushed her backwards, dropping her to her back on the bench. His hands slid the haori from her body, her hands leaving his hair to cradle his head and neck. The next thing to go was her halter top and wrap. She pulled open his gi and undershirt as her breasts pressed again his bare chest. She nearly felt her eyes roll back into her head as one of his hands rose up to her breast.

Her mind was telling her that this was wrong. It was telling her to scream or kick him or bite him but her body said differently. She wanted this to continue… her body ached for his hands to continue, to go lower… to delve into every dip and curve on her body. There was nothing in the world to her now but him… he and his hands.

His lips left her mouth, something that made her whimper but where they went next made her whine, his lips closed over one of her newly exposed nipples. When he did she thought he was finished but instead he ran his teeth over it, at which point her knees buckled up and her back arced into him. She bit her bottom lip, the half of her that was telling her that this was wrong told her now that if she was going to go along with it she wouldn't dare say his name. She'd be damned if she did and apparently she'd be damned if she didn't.

Obviously pleased with her reaction he moved on to the next object of his desire, her stomach. It had been taunting him in his dreams, that taut and muscular surface covered by tight and silky skin. He shifted his weight to his knees and leaned back, his lips coming from the valley between her breasts to her ribcage. He made his way all the way down to her stomach, kissing small circles as he went.

She felt the heat between her thighs build higher and higher but she wouldn't give. No… she wasn't going to give into him. Then they both heard it. The sound of voices from outside the garden. This was her chance! She broke away from him, pulling her halter back up. He watched her as she pulled the haori back on over her body, her chest heaving as his was. He stared at her as she sat back down next to him, hurriedly puling his undershirt and gi back together again. He was so stunned that he couldn't even dress himself. "We'll have to continue that another time." She planted a kiss on his lips, his hand shot up and held her there in another kiss.

"Thought you said Quincy weren't good for anything." He muttered against her lips. She smiled a little but didn't answer as she kissed him once more then backed away.

"I did." She retorted then turned and was gone before he could catch his breath again. She was so much better in real life than in his dreams. What the group that walked into the garden found, instead of Kazumi was a rather disheveled Uryu, sitting on the bench, leaning back against the tree with a content look on his face. His plan was going well.


	8. Pick Up Sticks

**Author's Note: **Need a total of 18 or more to post.

**Chapter: **Pick Up Sticks

After that day she started seeing him everywhere. Even if he wasn't actually there she would see him. At the captain's meeting nearly a week later she stood before the rest of captains and the moment that something even hinted at something about him she would feel her knees buckle. Unfortunately this meeting was about his being in the Soul Society.

"I think it's fine that he's here." Byakuya spoke. Toshiro grinned, happy that he was also starting to agree with him. The third captain nodded a little.

"But once again the final decision goes to Kazumi." Mayuri spoke again. Momaru looked over at Kazumi curiously to see what she would say. She obviously wasn't paying attention to them or anything they were doing. She was lost off in her own little world.

"Huh?" She looked over at the rest of the group. "Something about… Quincy?" She seemed rather out of it on this day. Momaru chuckled softly as he realized what she was thinking about. He had witnessed what had transpired between the ninth captain and her Quincy that day… and he had also decided to keep that fact a secret from her. "Oh! Should he be allowed to stay… uhm…" She looked around at them. She had to hold her cold nature. She had to stick to who she was. She couldn't let him take her over like he was. "Yes he should be allowed to stay…" She nodded her head. "Just let him stay and stop talking about it." She turned and walked out of the room, slamming the heavy shoji shut again.

She turned a corner and immediately in front of her there he was, standing there like he had been waiting for her. She walked past him, trying to keep from looking at him. As he did so his hand gasped hers and spun her towards him, pulling her into his arms and kissing her hard on the mouth. His hand gripped her jaw delicately, holding her lips to his. She melted into his arms as their kisses increased in tempo and fervency. She broke away first. "You were just going to walk by me and not acknowledge my existence?" He whispered, his lips brushing hers again as he spoke. She put her hands on his chest.

"You just seem so… skulky today so I didn't want to interrupt your bad mood." She smirked teasingly only to have her lips covered by his again. "No… not here… the other captains will find us…" She laughed and took his hand. "Come with me." She led him off to another part of the Seireitei… back to the garden where she had kissed him the first time but his brain didn't care and neither did his body as she pulled him up against her, allowing his body to pin her against the wall as she pulled him down by his gi. His lips met hers again in another fervent kiss.

&&&

"Toshiro." Momo questioned softly as he led her through the Seireitei she was wondering where they were going. The white haired young man that led her by the hand shook his head to tell her to be quiet. She shut her mouth but tugged on his hand again. He crouched down and she followed his lead.

"Do you hear that?" Toshiro whispered and she tuned her ears to hear the soft panted whimper that came in punctuated gasps.

"What is it?" But neither of them had to ask. They knew all too well who and what it was. Obviously the other two had beaten them there first.

"Nii-san…" He shook his head. "Obviously they haven't gotten past first base yet. Otherwise whimpering won't be the only thing she'd be doing." He chuckled and Momo laughed, hitting him on the shoulder gently.

"You're a freak." She laughed softly. He nodded a little then crept closer. "Let's break this up huh?" He grinned and pulled out his sword, attached to the hilt was a ribbon. "Text Renji and Yachiru and tell them the game's back on again." He smiled and suddenly jumped out from behind the wall. Kazumi jumped, pushing Uryu out of the way and pulled out her zanpakuto.

Uryu stumbled to the side, his chest heaving. He saw the woman he had just been kissing twist her body to the side as Toshiro tried to slash at her. She blocked his attack and twisted her sword towards him. Toshiro jumped and landed on her blade, swinging a foot up to kick her. She grabbed his ankle and flipped him over. "What the HELL is wrong with you Hitsugaya!?" She swung her sword and slashed his ribbon again.

"Fuck." He cursed and flipped away, tying another on. "I just thought I would give you a little time away from your newest pet." He smirked as his nii-san in a berserker-like state tried to off him again.

"Shit Hitsugaya! You got her riled up already!" Renji stood on the rooftop above them, his ribbon whipping in the air again. Uryu blinked as shinigami converged on the spot. He gulped and disappeared.

"CHEAAAH!" A sword came down just centimeters from Toshiro's face and he jumped back. "I'll get you for this Hitsugaya." She tried to bring her sword down on him again but instead her sword was met with Renji's. She then realized that they were doing this for her own good. She nodded and jumped off after them as they split into groups. But even as she jumped she felt the sinking in her heart. She was going down the wrong path… she was going to him… she was doing the SAME DAMN THING SHE WASN'T SUPPOSED TO DO!

&&&

Ichigo stood at the edge of a huge lake, his hands resting on his hips. "How safe is it to be swimming in this water?" He tilted his head towards Rukia who sat on a picnic blanket a few yards away. She looked up at him curiously with a riceball in her mouth she shrugged and swallowed.

"Fairly… Renji and I used to come here all the time." She then chuckled as he pulled off his gi and hakama, leaving his tanned back to her, she almost sighed in exasperation since he had left his boxers on but thought better of it. She bit her bottom lip, how she longed to dig her fingers into his back, slide them along his tender flesh and pull him closer than ever before… -SPLASH- she was brought out of her thoughts as Ichigo dove into the water.

"You gonna come join me Kuchiki or are you too scared?" He teased. The raven-haired girl made a face at him.

"If I came in there you wouldn't like it." She quipped. He frowned.

"Why's that?" He shot back. She simply smiled.

"'Cause I would kick your ass at swimming." Her hand reached for another rice ball and brought it to her mouth. He folded his arms across his chest.

"You can't even touch the bottom Kuchiki. How in the world are you supposed to beat me at swimming? Because you have to tread water the longest?" He teased but then saw that she had stood up, her own arms folded across her chest.

"I'll show you treading water doctor-boy!" She pulled off her hakama and the black gi but left herself in her white undershirt and dove into the water. Ichigo jumped out of the way as her clean dive swept past him.

"AAH!" He feigned a laugh as her arms wrapped around his neck and brought her lips to his. "Nooo!" He spoke against her lips then let his tongue delve into her mouth.

&&&

Kazumi sat on the tatami floor of her bedroom, still a little stunned from her conversation with her best friend.

_"So you've been seeing him in secret… I thought you hated them." His remarks were snide and rather jealous._

_"Yeah… so I have."_

_"He's poisoned your mind Kazumi… c'mon you were the one who said you wouldn't fall for this guy!" He chided her._

_"I'm not falling for him Momaru!" She clenched her fist. "I'm just using him." She smiled._

_"Oh… so you're going to draw him in and break his heart like the Quincy broke yours… makes sense… but now… how are you going to get it to work?" Momaru blinked at her._

_"I'm going to keep him going until tomorrow… he leaves then… and then when he comes and tries to tell me he loves me then I'll tell him that it was all just a game." She grinned._

_"Have you ever thought that he's trying the same thing on you?" He tilted his head._

_"He's a lot more innocent than that. He would never think to do something like that." Her smirk got wider._

_"Are you sure that you're not falling for the same trap you're setting cause if you are you're playing with fire." He mentioned the fact that it was treasonous for her to consort with him._

_"I know… it's not like I'm going to let it get far enough that we'll consummate the relationship. Geez Momaru… what kind of a whore do you take me for?" She raised an eyebrow._

_'What if I am falling for the same trap I'm setting?'_ She blinked, laying back on the floor. It was freshly replaced so the floor smelled like fresh hay, a scent she relished in. '_I can't think here.'_ She stood up and walked out the shoji, looking around carefully before jumping off in naught but her boyshorts and black razorback.

_'Ah… there we go.'_ She landed in her mother's garden silently and walked over to the pond. She looked in on the koi and then walked over to the lavender patch and dropped down beside it, laying back in the sweet smelling grass. She looked up at the stars and sighed lightly, taking in a deep breath of the sweet air around her.

"Nii-san?" She heard the voice of her former student and she looked over with a dull look on her face.

"Oh… Toshiro." She sat up as he walked over. He wore his hakama but nothing else, his zanpakuto was strapped around his hips, unusual for him.

"Can I join you?" He asked as he sat down.

"I don't think that question is relevant now…" She laughed and he chuckled. They sat in silence for a few minutes until he opened his mouth.

"They leave tomorrow." He stated plainly. She nodded.

"They have to go back to college." She whispered softly, taking in another deep breath of the sweet smelling air.

"Do you love him?" Toshiro asked after a time. She shifted uncomfortably. "…you're playing with fire…" She heard Momaru's voice in her head again.

"Do I love him Toshiro? Psh! You don't know me all that well do you?" She whispered softly. "I hate him. I hate him more than anything else in the world." She nodded, suddenly feeling that anger well up in her heart again. She had to hate him, he was her mortal enemy.

"Alright… no need to get so angry about it." He motioned one hand at her to calm down. But he had already done the damage. He knew she hated herself now for thinking that she was in love with him. Because she knew she wasn't… she knew she didn't want to be anyways.

"Toshiro… I don't think I could ever love him… not truly." She looked over at him. "Because of what he is…" She sighed again.

"Do you want to love him Nii-san?" He questioned with a yawn as he rested his head on her thigh. She shook her head, placing her arm over his shoulders.

"No I don't. I would never want to love him Toshiro…" She looked up into the sky and started stroking his hair softly. He snuggled up against her stomach and closed his eyes, yawning again. She leaned back against the tree behind her and rested her head on her collarbone. "I would never want to love him." She felt her eyes becoming heavy. She closed them and waited for sleep to come. She drifted off with Toshiro sleeping right there in her lap as it began to drizzle in the Soul Society.

&&&

Momaru walked into Kazumi's bedroom the next morning, only to see that she wasn't there. His jaw dropped. Where the hell could she be? His first thought was to Uryu. But then he shook his head. There was no way that the Quincy would do something like that. Then he smiled.

"Captain Manabe?" He heard Arisu's voice. She stood beside him in her shihakusho. He blinked and looked over at her.

"Arisu!" He smiled and the lieutenant blinked at him.

"Momaru what are you doing here? The captain left early this morning. I heard her." She stated rather plainly.

"Aaah! You're a useless lieutenant! You're supposed to know where she is at all times… but it's alright… I have a feeling I know where she is."

"Please tell her to come back and get her clothes when you do find her." She held up a folded pile of her captain's uniform. He took them with a smile.

"I'll just take it to her. Thank you Arisu!" The third captain jumped off, bounding in the direction of the garden.

&&&

Uryu lay pretending to be asleep in his futon, his face buried in his pillow. He smiled softly into is as he thought about Kazumi's downfall. He knew he had come up with a brilliant plan. She had pissed him off so his breaking her heart would make up for that.

"How's your plan going?" Ichigo questioned as he looked over at the Quincy.

"My plan? It's going great… she's obviously hooked on me… now all I have to do is put the final touches on it and everything will be over." His smile did not, however, hide the pain of those words.

"You sure you didn't fall for your own prey?" Ichigo raised an eyebrow. Uryu shook his head.

"I'm going to make her bend to my will." The Quincy grinned evilly. Ichigo shrank away from him. He was obviously set on making her pay for what she had said to him that one time at dinner. "I'm going to make her pay."

&&&

Ichigo and Rukia said their farewells through the day and Uryu simply waited. He sat down on the bench in her mother's garden, waiting for her to arrive there, he knew she would at some time during the day. When she did come he was surprised by his reaction to see her.

"Uryu." She walked over to him. He smiled a little then stood up. She looked so beautiful but breaking her heart was what he set out to do so breaking her heart was what he was going to do.

"Kazumi… this whole thing… is a joke." She blinked. Momaru had been right. "I honestly don't care about you at all… and I'm leaving. I'm going to walk away from you and never come back! Do you know why? Because you're the most selfish person I know. You hate others for no reason and you absolutely no reason to hate me. So here it is. If you love me now, which was what I was working for I hope this hurts. "I. Hate. You." He told her.

She stared at him. He hated her? How in the world could he hate her? This wasn't the plan! Her eyes filled with tears as she suddenly realized how much his words hurt her.

"And I mean that. You are the most… cruel and… I mean there's not even a word for what you've done to me. But you are a selfish, moral-less person… you seem to be able to hurt others just so you can have your way! And so what if the Quincy destroyed your family… that has absolutely nothing to do with me! I'm a Quincy yeah! But that means nothing! You can't simply relate something to another thing that has nothing to do with it in the first place! So I'm leaving… I hope you rot in hell because that's where you belong." He finally felt a weight lifted off his chest, and then another dropped on him in its place. He walked away from her silently, refusing to look back.

'…_you're playing with fire…'_ She heard his voice again in her head. '…_you ever thought that he's trying the same thing on you?' _Momaru had been right. She had been right… she had known from the beginning that she was getting in over her head. She dropped to her knees in the garden. He didn't care worth a damn. He didn't care about her… and here she was… in love with him.

&&&

Later that evening while he was sitting in his kitchen he decided something. If he ever saw her again. He would make up for everything he had said.


	9. Truth or Dare

**Chapter: **Truth or Dare

Suddenly he began seeing her all over the place. It seemed that she had suddenly taken up residence in Tokyo. Every time she was with that guy… the brown haired one. He trembled just thinking about him. He didn't like the way that guy was with Kazumi.

"You don't care Ishida." He told himself out loud. Then opened his book to the chapter they were supposed to read that night. The blood drained from his face as he saw what it said. 'The Female Reproductive System' He read with dismay. Suddenly he heard the first bars of "Crazy Bitch" by Buckcherry and frowned over at the black SideKick 3 that lay on his bed. He had been talked into it by Rukia and Ichigo so they could get a hold of him. He stared at it a bit longer, willing it to shut up, and heard it stop. He turned back to the thick textbook.

_The vagina is a muscular, hollow tube that extends from the vaginal opening to the uterus. The vagina is about 3 to 5 inches (8 to 12 centimeters) long in a grown woman. Because it has muscular walls, it can expand and contract. This ability to become wider or narrower allows the vagina to accommodate something as slim as a tampon and as wide as a baby. The vagina's muscular walls are lined with mucous membranes, which keep it protected and moist. The vagina serves 3 purposes: It's where the penis is inserted during sexual intercourse, and it's also the pathway that a baby takes out of a woman's body during childbirth, called the birth canal, and it provides the route for the menstrual blood (the period) to leave the body from the uterus._

He stared at the page and began taking notes as his eye continued to twitch. He was seriously hoping that they wouldn't get to this part yet but the night before they had covered was 'The Male Reproductive System' after which usually the female follows in a general order. He felt his hand shake as for some twisted reason he summoned her back into his head. Her delicious whine as he had kissed her stomach was not something that he could easily forget. Then he heard it again. _'Hey… you're a crazy bitch but you fck so good I'm on top of it when I dream-' _This time he picked it up. "Hello?"

"Dude! Uryu where are you?" Ichigo shouted over the phone. Uryu sighed and slid the screen open and closed to hang up on him. The Quincy continued what he was doing, rather painfully he had to admit.

_The vagina connects with the _**_uterus_**_, or womb, at the _**_cervix_**_ (which means neck). The cervix has strong, thick walls. The opening of the cervix is very small (no wider than a straw), which is why a tampon can never get lost inside a girl's body. During childbirth, the cervix can expand to allow a baby to pass._

"I still can't believe this is what we're studying." He closed his eyes, rubbing his temples. What was she doing here in Tokyo? That was the major thing that was bothering him. He groaned lightly as he felt his headache throb as his cell phone rang again. _'Damn you Ichigo!'_ He cursed in his head. Then her body filled his mind's eye. She lay on the bench beneath him, her halter off and her wraps off, her body exposed to him. "FUCK!" He slammed his fist into the desk in anger and ended up breaking his pencil. He blinked and immediately reached for a pen.

_The uterus is shaped like an upside-down pear, with a thick lining and muscular walls - in fact, the uterus contains some of the strongest muscles in the female body. These muscles are able to expand and contract to accommodate a growing fetus and then help push the baby out during labor. When a woman isn't pregnant, the uterus is only about 3 inches (7.5 centimeters) long and 2 inches (5 centimeters) wide._

Uryu waded his way through his work. He knew he had to finish this chapter but every time he tried to continue he felt a tug at his heart. He stood up and walked out of the room, leaving his pen on the book and his notebook open, his review papers in random places on his desk. He walked into the kitchen and pulled out of the cabinet a bottle of sake that he had been saving for just such an occasion. He poured a glass for himself and walked back into his office as he sipped the liquor.

_If a female and male have sex within several days of the female's ovulation, fertilization can occur. When the male ejaculates (which is when semen leaves a male's penis), between 0.05 and 0.2 fluid ounces (1.5 to 6.0 milliliters) of _**_semen_**_ is deposited into the vagina. Between 75 and 900 million sperm are in this small amount of semen, and they "swim" up from the vagina through the cervix and uterus to meet the egg in the fallopian tube. It takes only 1 sperm to fertilize the egg._

He stared at the page for a few minutes before walking out of the room again. He knew all of this. The problem was the woman who he saw in his head every time he thought about having sex. He flinched as "Crazy Bitch" blared in his ears again. He turned his head, glaring at the cell phone. He walked over to it and flipped it open. "Ishida." He answered, hoping it was someone other than Ichigo.

"C'mon Uryu! It's Halloween! Come out and party with us!" Ichigo's voice was shouting over the noise that Uryu heard in the background. He frowned and looked back at his school work.

"Ichigo… I really need to finish my-"

"KILL JOY!" He heard Rukia shout from the other line. He frowned again.

"I have to finish my homework." He replied. Ichigo frowned on the other line. He knew what was wrong with his best friend but they all had agreed not to talk about it.

"Alright… so do I… I'll be over in a few minutes." Uryu grimaced as his cell phone cut off. _'Damn you Ichigo.'_ Then he thought about it again. Maybe it would be good to have Ichigo over… maybe he could talk about the things that were bugging him.

_About a week after the sperm fertilizes the egg, the fertilized egg (zygote) has become a multicelled _**_blastocyst_**_. A blastocyst is about the size of a pinhead, and it's a hollow ball of cells with fluid inside. The blastocyst burrows itself into the lining of the uterus, called the _**_endometrium_**_. The hormone estrogen causes the endometrium to become thick and rich with blood. Progesterone, another hormone released by the ovaries, keeps the endometrium thick with blood so that the blastocyst can attach to the uterus and absorb nutrients from it. This process is called _**_implantation_**

Uryu looked at the page blankly. Pregnancies were something for people who had relationships… not for people who broke the heart of the people they love. He sat down and ran a hand through his hair. His bare upper body shone in the dim lamp light, his muscular arms rippled as he reached over for his pen. _"You just seem so… skulky today so I didn't want to interrupt your bad mood." _He heard her teasing voice in his head again. He sighed and ran his hand through his hair again. Maybe he was right in letting Ichigo come over. He drank down the sake in the glass before moving on in his homework.

Almost an hour later there was a knock at the door and Uryu looked up. "Door's open!" He called and heard the person walk in. The familiar thunk of a pair of shoes on the wooden floor. Then his best friend appeared in the doorway. Ichigo was breathing hard and he was only wearing a pair of ripped and "bloody" jeans with a torn Manchester United jersey. He had "blood" on his forehead dripping down his eye.

"You're going to drip that stuff on my carpet." Uryu pointed at a drop of blood that was falling from his chin. Ichigo blinked and wiped it off.

"Can I use your shower then?" He questioned. Uryu nodded and motioned to the bathroom.

"I'll get you a change of clothes." He walked out. Maybe this would be good for him.

&&&

The very next morning Uryu woke with a splitting headache and a pressure on his stomach. He turned his head to the side and was met with Ichigo's arm. The two of them must have passed out drunk. He remembered their opening of a second bottle and it was all down hill from there. His best friend's head was on his open Anatomy book on his stomach. Ichigo's Anatomy book was on his lap. But as he remembered they hadn't actually done any anatomy at all. He grunted as he pulled away from the carrot top and walked into the bathroom. He leaned on the counter, looking at himself for a second as he shut the door. He rubbed his chin with one hand feeling the rough bristle there. His headache needed to be taken care of first.

His hand reached out and opened the cabinet, his bleary eyes only seeing the containers of his contacts. He took out one of each eye and put them in. He blinked to clear his sight again and feel happy for a moment then felt his heart drop as he realized that she wasn't there. He reached over and opened a bottle of 400mg Motrin. He popped two of them into his mouth and downed them with a gulp of water.

"Yours as bad as mine?" Ichigo opened the door. His raven-haired friend looked horrible. "Apparently it's worse." He walked in and took one of the 400mg. "This is some heavy duty stuff Uryu." He said as he looked at the prescription bottle.

"I don't like to suffer pains." He made a joke. The first one Ichigo had heard him make in some time. He smiled over at the Quincy.

"You are a weird person you know that?" Ichigo chuckled. "I just thought I should tell you that."

"I know… why else would I be such an idiot?" Uryu walked out of the bathroom and out into the kitchen, as Ichigo walked out behind him they heard a click and a bright flash of light blinded them both and sent their hung-over heads into a tizzy.

"Say cheese!" Rukia grinned from behind the camera. Then her smile faded as she saw the two giving her a look that read 'we are going to kill you.'

&&&

"So remind me why we're doing this again?" Momaru blinked at her as they walked through the streets of Harajuku.

"There's a new pair of boots that I want." She smiled as they walked. The redhead's hair was pulled back into a French braid down the back of her head. Her long black pea coat hung to her knees, fashionably form fitting and accented by a cream colored scarf around her neck. Her black leather gloves kept her hands from the cold and her long dark blue jeans went well with the outfit. Momaru smiled a little. She was always so together.

"Yeah… so… why can't we go somewhere else and buy them?" He asked as she took his hand. His black blazer was worn over a red, white, and blue t-shirt that read hamme(red). His jeans and sneakers completed a casual look… one that he had been forced to put on instead of his usual boots and muscle shirt.

"Because there is nowhere else to buy them." She stopped in front of a store that wasn't even open yet.

"The damn store isn't even open!" He fumed that he had been forced to get out of bed so early in the morning just to come buy a pair of shoes and now the store was closed. Just as he said that the door opened and the lights came on.

"Store isn't open huh?" She walked in as he stared at the door slack jawed. He then resigned himself and walked in after her.

As they walked out, her bag in hand she decided to look around. He followed dutifully but mournfully at his lost three hours of sleep. She dragged him over to the entry way to a bar. "The Otaku." She looked up at the sign. "Hmmm… sounds fun." She smiled over at him. Momaru shook his head.

"No it doesn't it sounds like it would be a blast to NOT have fun at." He frowned.

"You are so grumpy today." She turned away from him. He made a face at her back. "I saw that." He stopped and looked at her then made another face. "I saw that too." His eye twitched.

"You are unbelievably cantankerous today." He grumbled as she dragged him off towards their car. As they did they passed a man in a black coat. He looked rather disheveled and he was walking towards the Otaku. He looked over at them over his shoulder and Kazumi looked back. Cerulean met iridescent azure. A flush rose in her cheeks and she turned away. "Kazi? You alright?" The brunet questioned and she nodded.

"Yeah I'm fine… I just thought I recognized that guy." She shook her head and got into the car.

&&&

Ichigo sat on his couch at his and Rukia's house, his arms folded behind his head. She sat next to him, leaning on his torso as she changed channels from time to time.

"How do you think he's doing?" She looked up at the carrot-top.

"Me? I have no idea how he's doing. He's always hiding everything but from what I got out of drunken Uryu last night he is jealous of us because of what we have and he hates himself for toying with her heart." He quipped. She smacked him on the chest with the remote. "Ow! You're abusive!"

"So what you're saying is that he's upset about Kazumi?" She blinked up. Amber met indigo and he smiled.

"Yeah. I always knew he was falling for her. And now he keeps thinking he's been seeing her… I told him that was ridiculous…"

"Not so much." Rukia stopped him.

"What?" Ichigo blinked down at her grumpily.

"Uhm… she's here… on earth." She leaned a little more so that they could see eye to eye.

"What?" He repeated. "So Uryu isn't going crazy…" He sounded relieved. The medic major leaned back against the couch back. He sighed lightly. 'Then maybe… we can resolve this.'

"Even if they were in love… and happened to admit that… they have to explain that to the Gotei 13… minus one." She looked up at him.

"Why should they care about what she does? She's a captain too isn't she?" He looked down at her.

"Yeah but that doesn't matter. She's still a member of the Seireitei and he is still a Quincy. Even my brother would throw a fit. I mean… think about 12 grown men and women throwing a conniption fit all at one time. That's the kinda thing that would await her." Rukia's eyes grew sad. She knew all to well what would happen to them then.

"So basically they're damned if they do and damned if they don't." Rukia nodded. "I'd rather be damned if I don't in their case. The risk is death otherwise."

"Would you die for someone you love?" Rukia posed this question to him and he looked down at her.

"I think I've proven that one already." He retorted and she shook her head. His cocky smile made its reappearance.

"Alright fine…" She sighed. "But do you see my point? There is now way out of this one. If they love each other then they'd be willing to die for each other." She smiled softly.

"What if it comes to that?" He grinned. The excitement of another adventure took him.

"You just can't wait until this happens can you?" She frowned up at him.

"I can't wait until this goes down." Ichigo pulled her up. "But you and I can go down right now." He smirked as their lips met. Unfortunately at that moment Ichigo's cell phone rang. The little red Blackberri jingled _"Rudebox"_ by Robbie Williams. "Hello??" Ichigo lifted it to his ear as Rukia kissed him again, unbuttoning his jeans as she did. "Hm?"

_"Ichigo… I was thinking about going out tonight… think you can hold down the fort?"_ He heard Uryu's voice but he was watching Rukia with dismay as she pulled his jeans down around his thighs and pulled him down so that he was lax on the couch.

"Yeh…" He bit his bottom lip as her hands made quick work of his boxers, slipping them down as well. His eye twitched and he tried to push her away. He knew all too well what she was planning and he wasn't going to participate while he was on the phone.

_"Okay cool."_

"Where are you going? You got a date or something." The carrot-top pulled his boxers back up. Rukia made a face at him and he made a face back.

_"Sorta. This girl from our Biochemistry class just called me."_ The Quincy nearly complained. Ichigo laughed, yanking his jeans away from Rukia. She sat back on her haunches and pouted.

"Hmmm… you mean Yuki Tokagawa? Yeah she's cute." He looked over and his lips were met with Rukia's.

"_Kurosaki Ichigo! What the hell are you doing over there?"_ Uryu feigned shock_. "Are you two getting it on… on the phone?" _He nearly laughed.

"She won't leave me alone!" Ichigo complained as she kissed his neck. "I think she's decided that you're a bad thing from the way she's looking at me."

_"Alright… I'll leave you two to your lovemaking. Just don't keep the neighbors up." _He chuckled as his best friend let out a strain of colorful phrases_. "Tell me how you really feel."_ Ichigo hung up on him.

&&&

Uryu walked home from his date that night, more depressed than he was before. The whole night all he could think about was Kazumi. He was thinking about her all the time now. Like she wouldn't get out of his head, it was like she had taken him over. He felt his heart squeeze and saw her again, hearing her sobs as he turned his back on her, leaving her behind him.

"You're a son of a bitch Uryu." He told himself as he walked into his house. The Quincy pulled off his jacket and hung it on the coat rack. He smiled a little as he thought about Rukia and Ichigo. So they were at that point in their relationship were they? He frowned again as he opened his fridge and pulled out a beer. He walked into his bedroom, throwing his keys and cell phone on the table.

He had ditched the girl he was on a date with at her door. He told her that he was sorry but he had something on his mind. He had then walked home in the cold November air.

Uryu looked in the mirror for a few seconds then looked at the clock. 8 PM. They would still be open. He picked up his cell phone and flipped the screen open and dialed a phone number. "Yes… I would like to schedule a hair cut." He smiled as he looked at the little card in his hand. "For November 4? Okay… that'll work." He wrote the date down in his planner and folded his arms. "Thank you." He flipped the screen closed. "Uryu… you're playing with fire." He chuckled to himself as he set the cell phone back down.


	10. Tag

**Chapter: **Tag

**Warning: **Songfic like chapter… XD I've been known to do that from time to time…

Several weeks later Uryu had seemingly returned to his normal self, going out and laughing and talking with his friends. The raven-haired man however would jump every time he saw a girl with long red hair. As he worked as a bartender at a local dance club in Tokyo he saw a lot of them. He, however, had been forced to ask for a substitute bar tender while he had been gone. Now, on December 31, he had to work from open until close, which wasn't until 5 AM on January 1.

Rukia had arrived shortly after 10 PM, wearing a pair of low rise jeans and an indigo halter top, in her company was Rangiku Matsumoto, Isane Kotetsu and Ikakku Madarame. Ikakku immediately made his way over to the bar where Uryu was and the girls moved into the crowd. "Damn… it's cold out there." He sat down at the bar and Uryu laughed. He and Ikakku had become friends over the years strangely enough, they tended to be drinking buddies but they had also formed a club called the Hopeless Hopefuls. An inside joke between the two of them.

"What can I get you?" Uryu leaned on the bar. His eyes could now be easily seen, his glasses had shattered a few years back and instead of getting a new pair he began wearing contacts. Of course it might have had something to do with his current girlfriend at the time talking him into it.

"Make it a JD on the rocks and I'll pay for it." Ikakku laughed. Uryu nodded.

"You better pay for it anyways." He flipped the bottle over the ice filled glass and poured the liquor in artfully. He flipped the bottle back up and set it down, handing Ikakku the drink while he put the bottle away.

"I will." He laughed as he sipped the glass. He then spotted something that he hadn't noticed before. The Quincy's hair had gotten shorter. His bangs were trimmed up and not hanging down his face as much and the back of his hair was messy instead of neat. It seemed that he was finally changing for the better. He wore a black short sleeved shirt that said Otaku on it, the bar's name, with a long sleeved black shirt underneath it which read the same name down the arms in neon green. His pants were a pair of jeans with holes in the knees, a black apron was tied around his waist. His black hair was crammed under a black skull beanie, making him look like something other than the studious person he was. Suddenly Uryu froze, a flash of scarlet hair whipped through the air.

"Hey… Ikakku…" He paused as Ichigo walked in the door. The bartender behind the counter sighed and pulled out another glass, making a bloody mary for his best friend.

"Ury- damn… you're good." He sat down next to Ikakku, handing his jacket to Uryu as he sipped the bloody mary.

"Yes I am." Uryu smiled. Ichigo wore a long sleeved white shirt with Tokyo University written across the chest. His jeans hung low, like Uryu's only his was also attempting to be held up by a belt.

"Don't get too cocky Ishida or I'll wipe the smile off your face." He laughed. The cold December air had put pink tinges into Ichigo's cheeks, making him look like a jolly old man when he laughed.

_Take an a-a-aphrodisiac, don't do no-no-nothing, just relax  
Your ha-ha-heart goes pitter-pat, take an a-a-aphrodisiac_

Uryu heard a song come on that he liked… he hadn't heard the DJ put it on in a while. He looked over and again he saw that hair. He was about to go over an find out who it was and then. "Hey! Isn't that Captain Hasegawa." His eyes caught her then, she leaned back, her body flexing like a cat on a hot day. She whipped around as he saw her dancing with another man, he had his hands in her back pockets, pulling her hips close to his. Suddenly he froze, his heart stopped. What the hell was she doing here? But then jealousy overcame that…

_If you want to fall in love with somebody  
Somebody that you're not in love with at all  
With an a-a-a-aphrodisiac, your ha-ha-heart goes pitter-pat  
Don't do nothing, just relax with an a-a-aphrodisiac_

The lyrics ran over his mind in circles… but they didn't matter to him. All he knew was that she was here and this was his chance… to maybe… change things. He jumped over the bar, pulling off the apron. Ichigo stared as the usually quiet Uryu made his way towards where the shinigami captain was dancing in a low cut glacier blue halter and a pair of extremely low rise ripped jeans.

_If you want to fall in love with somebody - hey  
Somebody that you're not in love with at all  
Exciting you, just make you love me too  
Somebody that you're not in love with at all_

Ikakku and Ichigo exchanged looks as he approached the captain. She seemed not to notice but for some reason Uryu was determined to get her attention. Even Rukia and the other two women stopped dancing for a second as Uryu's hand descended down onto her shoulder.

_I'm your a-a-a-aphrodisiac, don't do nothing, just relax  
Gives you a a a heartattack, just take your clothes off, this is over jack  
If you want to fall in love with somebody  
Somebody that you're not in love with at all_

She turned towards whomever it was that was bothering her. She froze though as she realized who it was. Her icy blue eyes locked into his cerulean. "May I?" He nodded his head towards the other man. He almost said no but Uryu gave him a death glare and reminded himself to bill him a little more later. She moved towards him as he twirled her around, pressing her back to his, one hand resting on her hip, his fingers close to her crown, one thumb hooked into the low rise of the jeans. His other hand laced its fingers through her left hand which was resting on her navel.

_Take an a-a-a-aphrodisiac, don't do no-no-nothing, just relax  
Elephants is unagreed, wo-wo-wo-wor to succeed  
A-a-aphrodisiac, gives you a a a heartattack_

"What the hell are you doing Ishida?" She hissed but stopped as his hips ground into hers. They lowered slightly then came back up, hips moving together in harmony. He grinned a little as she tried to strain against his muscular arms. However he squeezed her hand gently and she stopped as the last strain of music played.

_Don't do nothing, just relax, I'll be your aphrodisiac  
Don't do nothing, just relax, with an a-a-aphrodisiac_

His thumb wedged deeper into her jeans, coming to rest between her underwear and her jeans. She tilted her head back against his shoulder as Aphrodisiac faded into the next song.

_Seems like just yesterday  
You were a part of me  
I used to stand so tall  
I used to be so strong  
Your arms around me tight  
Everything, it felt so right_

The crimson haired girl that leaned against his body suddenly felt a little heavier. Like she had leaned against him harder. One of his feet shifted back a few inches to keep them steady. Her hand tightened on his as they dipped again.

_  
Unbreakable, like nothin' could go wrong  
Now I can't breathe  
No, I can't sleep  
I'm barely hanging on  
_

"Are you absolutely sure that the two of them are uninvolved?" Ikakku questioned as Ichigo watched in awe. The carrot-top shook his head.

"Not anymore." He frowned slightly. They were toying with something a lot bigger than them if they were.

"Hmm… strange… they go so well together." He commented again. Ichigo nodded solemnly but inside he was happy, at least Uryu seemed to have someone. He had still never seen him dance like that with anyone. He hadn't even known that Uryu COULD dance. And he called himself the Quincy's best friend.

_  
Here I am, once again  
I'm torn into pieces  
Can't deny it, can't pretend  
Just thought you were the one  
Broken up, deep inside  
But you won't get to see the tears I cry  
Behind these hazel eyes  
_

"I'm sorry." He whispered in her ear. His words tore through her worse than his comment so many months ago. She sighed slightly. He waited to see what she would say.

_  
I told you everything  
Opened up and let you in  
You made me feel alright  
For once in my life  
Now all that's left of me  
Is what I pretend to be  
So together, but so broken up inside  
'Cause I can't breathe  
No, I can't sleep  
I'm barely hangin' on_

She said nothing for the next strain of music, simply letting him lead her body with his. Her iridescent sky blue eyes searched the room slowly. Everywhere she looked she saw couples, couples all over the room dancing together. She almost broke down then. She almost told him how much she had missed him but instead she tried to pull away. "Kazumi." His deep voice spoke her name in her ear and she paused in her movements._  
_

_  
Here I am, once again  
I'm torn into pieces  
Can't deny it, can't pretend  
Just thought you were the one  
Broken up, deep inside  
But you won't get to see the tears I cry  
Behind these hazel eyes  
_

"I can't…" She tried to speak but instead he pulled her even closer so her entire back pressed against his chest. His chin rested on the top of her head and she felt herself break down on the inside, her heart squeezing tightly around itself. "Uryu." She said his name. It was quiet, almost too quiet for he almost didn't hear her.

_  
Swallow me then spit me out  
For hating you, I blame myself  
Seeing you it kills me now  
No, I don't cry on the outside  
Anymore...  
_

"She seems to be rather uncomfortable." Rukia said as she and Rankigu walked over. Isane had begun dancing with another guy on the dance floor. Ichigo nodded. "I think seeing Uryu again really took a toll on her."

"Really… to be honest… I think she was a fool to let him go the way she did." Matsumoto took a drink of her beer. Ikakku shook his head.

"I think it's a shame really that they're both so hard headed that they refuse to see that they're perfect for each other." Ikakku took a drink as well. He leaned on the bar with his elbow, resting his face on his palm.

"But is perfect a good term for what they are?" Rangiku looked over at him.

"Yeah you're right… I mean there are the obstacles of the other 12 captains." Rukia folded her arms across her chest.

"But still… that doesn't mean they're in love." Ichigo pointed out and everyone else looked over at him.

_  
Here I am, once again  
I'm torn into pieces  
Can't deny it, can't pretend  
Just thought you were the one  
Broken up, deep inside  
But you won't get to see the tears I cry  
Behind these hazel eyes_

"Uryu." She said again. He pressed his face into her neck and she felt her eyes grow sad. Then she snapped back, she told herself not to show him how sad she had been when he left. But when his lips formed a little of apologetic kisses down the nape of her neck she couldn't help but sigh.

_  
Here I am, once again  
I'm torn into pieces  
Can't deny it, can't pretend  
Just thought you were the one_

Uryu kept his eyes closed tightly. "Kazumi… please forgive me… I didn't mean it…" He whispered again. The words in the music made her heart hurt even worse.

_  
Broken up, deep inside  
But you won't get to see the tears I cry  
Behind these hazel eyes_

"Hey!" A voice came over the music. "Don't you think you've caused her enough pain?" Momaru was standing in front of them. He shoved Uryu back and the Quincy felt his anger bristle. There he was again, in his way.

"Don't you think you've bothered me enough?" Uryu picked himself up off the ground. "Or do you want to take this outside?" He growled. Momaru smiled evilly and grabbed him by the shirt, throwing him against the back door and pushing him out it.

"Whu-oh!" Ichigo watched them disappear out the door, Kazumi, looking panicked following. "Looks like we got a little trouble to take care of." Ichigo put his cell phone in his pocket. "Hopefully they'll settle it the old fashioned way instead of the Quincy vs. Shinigami way." He walked off, Ikakku followed him. Rukia rolled her eyes and walked slowly after them.

"The hell is your problem?" Uryu asked softly as Momaru paced in a circle around him.

"You're my problem, your hurting my best friend is my problem, your existsance!" Suddenly he sounded psychotic. "I'm going to make you pay for hurting her Quincy boy." He pointed at him.

"Bring it on then." He pushed his sleeves back, summoning his bow as the shinigami dropped his gigai.

"NO!" A pair of arms wrapped around Momaru's waist and the hollow masked shinigami looked down at her. His mask was white, painted with black streaks across the left side of his face. A set of long white claws had taken over each of his fingers on his left hand. In his good hand was the sealed form of his zanpakuto.

"Kazumi." The psychotic voice drawled. "Just let me get rid of him and your pain would be gone."

"If you're going to kill him you're going to have to deal with the two of us Captain Manabe!" Ikakku and Ichigo stood in front of the Quincy before he could blink, Zangetsu and Hozukimaru out and at the ready.

"Please Momaru… don't make more of a scene that you already have." Kazumi pulled on his waist again and he lowered his hands, sliding his sword back into its sheath. Ichigo even blinked as the hollow did what she asked. She reached up and pulled off his mask. The green eyed captain looked down at her as he repossessed his gigai. His arm wrapped around her waist protectively.

"I don't want to see you around her ever again." Momaru frowned at him, his voice was low and vicious. As if he would strike at any second.

"Then keep her away from me." Uryu snapped back but then realized what he had said. Kazumi looked over at him, again, iridescent azure met cerulean. Suddenly he shifted forward to reach for her but Ikakku and Ichigo grabbed his arms.

"Calm down Uryu!" Ikakku yanked on his arm with Ichigo, pulling him away from the red haired captain.

"Settle this another time. It's New Years Eve!" Ichigo strained to hold back the struggling Quincy. His strength was greater than either of them thought.

"Why don't you listen to your friends Quincy? They seem to be smarter than you are. If you know what's good for you you'll stay away from her." He pulled her by the hip closer to him and turned, walking back into the bar with her.

"DAMN IT!" Uryu dropped to his knees. Ichigo let him fall and took back over his body. Ikakku stepped back into his gigai. "Why does everything have to happen to me?" He slammed his fists against the ground.

"Bad luck? You broken a mirror lately Uryu?" Ikakku shrugged.

"I think I know how you can talk to her." They all turned around to see a certain redheaded lieutenant standing behind them.

"Renji!" Rukia jumped into his arms.


	11. Capture The Flag

**Chapter: **Capture the Flag

Renji grinned as Rukia jumped into his arms. She laughed as he spun her around, setting her back down on the ground. "Like I said… I think I know how to keep Momaru away from her." The red head wore a black and grey blazer with a red and black t-shirt underneath it that read "red pineapple". His jeans were dark blue completed with a pair of shiny black dress shoes.

"What's your brilliant idea Abarai?" Uryu stood up and looked over at him.

"Are you willing to do anything to talk to her?" The lieutenant stepped forward, his signature grin painted across his face. The slightly evil smile, complete with his pointy eye teeth made Rukia smile too; she suddenly knew what he was thinking.

"Just about… why Abarai? You got something in mind?" Uryu leaned forward.

"Maybe… you wanna know what it is?" Renji leaned towards the Quincy, jutting his jaw forward.

"Perhaps but I get the feeling that the information comes at a price." Ichigo watched him talk to Renji and realized how much he had changed from when they had met. Now he was much more out going and his dealings with people were much more punctured and rough than they were before. He was tougher than he had been. Of course they all were… if it weren't for Orihime Rukia would be dead… he looked over at the other two again, lifting an eyebrow as they nearly fought.

"Yeah it comes at a price Ishida. Doesn't everything?" Then a voice spoke out from behind him.

"So what are we doing here Renji?" A woman's voice questioned almost sarcastically. Renji stood up and motioned to the girl behind him.

"This is the plan." He pointed at her. She was a pretty girl with medium length blonde hair that reached just above her shoulder and then stuck out to the sides from there. Her grey blue eyes were pretty, not as iridescent as Kazumi's but pretty. Her tanned skin was obvious and it seemed that she had just returned from a South American country. Her jeans were tight and ripped in the front. Her shirt was a steel blue cowl neck sweater that folded down loosely over her shoulder, exposing a delicate collar bone and clinging to her breasts, which, like a lot of the shinigami women he had seen, were by no means small.

"That's right. My name's Megumi Narita. Captain of the fifth division." She grinned and held out her hand to Uryu. He shook it and was almost shocked by the strength of her hand. "I've been out of the Soul Society and off the maps for a while down in Brazil. It was only when Renji got a hold of me that I found out about all this treasonous activity." Her smile was devilish and extremely similar to Kazumi's.

"Meg!" Rukia jumped on her as well, giving her a bear hug that would rival any other. "How have you been?"

"Me? I've been doing alright… but I hear that you've been making off alright on your own." Her eyes flitted over to Ichigo. Ikakku nodded to her.

"Yep… she's sure made off with a bundle." Renji nodded towards Ichigo. She let a smile cross her lips.

"To be perfectly honest I'm the pink baka ranger." She sighed and as Uryu looked confused she explained. "The Baka Rangers are a made up group that the captains gave my group of friends when we were kids because we were all a bunch of idiots. To be honest… three of the four are captains now and one is a lieutenant so that shows them what they know." Uryu nodded then looked over at Uryu.

"How is she supposed to help?" Renji looked back at him blankly. "Do you even know?"

"She's one of their best friends. She knows everything about them. She will be the biggest help we can get." The red head looked proud of himself.

"All you have to do is give Momaru the bait and he'll do the rest." She grinned. Her hand pulled out a Blackberri Pearl and dialed a number. "Arisu… I have a mission for you." Her devil's smile spread wider.

&&&

Momaru sat at a back table with Kazumi, he held her there almost by force. "Momaru can't I go dance. I don't want to spend my New Years Eve sitting in a corner sulking!" She tried to yank her arm out of his grasp but it simply got tighter. "Now you're being abusive and ridiculous, let me go. I want to go DANCE!" She pulled out of his grasp.

"Fine. Dance. But if I see him anywhere near you I'm going to kill him." She stared at him then spun on her heel and made her way to the dance floor. Uryu was standing back behind the bar now, talking rather heatedly with Renji. The redheaded lieutenant was tapping his index finger on the bar to make his point. She smiled a little and suddenly felt a pair of arms wrap around her waist.

"Rukia!" She laughed as the shorter woman pulled her into the grind line. Isane jumped in front of her and she laughed harder. The usually reserved Kotetsu was letting loose. Obviously she had downed several drinks during the course of the night. Kazumi lifted her hands above her head, letting her body swing with the music. Rukia smiled as she felt her loosen up. She and Ichigo were going to work on the two of them until they admitted that they were in love.

At the bar Renji was still arguing with Uryu about something that Ichigo simply rolled his eyes about. "I'm not asking you I'm telling you!"

"What do you want me to get my head ripped off?" Uryu hissed back at the suggestion. He was wiping out glasses and putting them away under the bar in the dishwasher.

"No! I just want you to go dance with her… if we can get him distracted by the time you get to her he's gonna be distracted all night." Renji grinned, tapping his finger on the counter.

"Yeah but what if he doesn't take the bait?" Ichigo leaned forward, leaning his elbows on the counter.

"There's no way that he would refuse to take our bait." The British shinigami told them.

"But let's say hypothetically speaking that he didn't… how much of a danger am I in?" Uryu leaned in as well. The blonde looked off to the side for a second.

"On a scale from one to ten… ten being the worst… probably a nine point five." Megumi shrugged. Uryu nearly fell over at that.

"Then I'm not going to do it." He looked over at the grind line where all the girls were and saw them dip, her body stretching back up again and he suddenly wanted his hands on her skin, he wanted to see her stretch like that beneath him. He dropped his head against the counter to clear his thoughts and Renji grabbed him and pulled him back up.

"Don't kill yourself before you get the chance." Ichigo blinked. "You alright?"

"Yeah… I'm fine." The bar tender frowned. Why did she have to be so tempting? He watched her for a little longer and felt his blood rise. There was no way around this.

"So… you gonna do it?" Renji picked at his teeth with a tooth pick. He looked around only to see Ichigo walking behind the bar from the back room, pulling on his black short sleeved Otaku shirt on over his long sleeved white shirt. He tied the string to his apron twice so that the bow was in the front to the left. Uryu grinned.

"I'll cover for you while you're dancing." Ichigo pulled the Quincy's apron string, letting it fall into his hand.

"You guys are gonna get me killed… I just thought I should tell you that." He frowned at them. Renji shrugged.

"Go!" Ichigo shoved him. Uryu stumbled a little but walked out the back and onto the dance floor.

"Kazi." Rukia pinched the redhead's side and she looked over. Isane smiled and stepped away as did Rukia and Rangiku. "Girlfriend" by Avril Lavigne began to play.

"Dance with me?" He smiled down at her and held out his hand. She stared at him for a second then reached over and he spun her over to him, pulling her back against him. His hand dipped down to her navel again and the other slid around to the front of her thigh, holding her in place as they dipped low, her hands reaching back to hook her thumbs into the back pockets of his jeans.

"They were made for each other." Renji grinned, leaning on the bar. Isane sat down next to Ikakku.

"Yeah right… I would have my tenth kid before they even considered dating." Ikakku quipped after which he received a slap on the chest by the shy Isane. He grinned over at her.

"Why do you say that?" Ichigo looked over with Renji.

"Because… she knows the rules. He amuses her and she likes to be amused. Simply put they're both just playing with each other." The opening bars of "Me and My Gang" by Rascall Flatts played over the speakers.

"Speaking of amusing." Renji grabbed Ikakku's head and directed it towards Momaru and Arisu.

&&&

Momaru stared at her. The pretty doe-eyed girl stood before him in a pair of ripped blue jeans and a belly baring long sleeved cowl neck sweater, the soft gold set off the gold flecks in her eyes. Her brown hair was messy as usual but pretty and as she stood there before him she reached out to him.

"You wanna dance?" He stared at her hand for a second then blinked again.

"You sure you're real?" He smiled as he took her hand. Megumi across the dance floor smiled from her table. Her plan had worked. Arisu pulled him up to her, his arms wrapping around her waist. She pulled him into the middle of the crowd of people as a slower song began to play. "Escape…" He smiled at the speakers. "How appropriate." He looked at the girl in his arms. They had been best friends for years. And they did have a history together but he hadn't known that she still felt something for him.

"So what's the story with the two of them?" Ikakku asked Megumi. She looked over at the bald man and gave him a bright smile.

"They dated when we were younger… but then he left after he got his captain's position and she was broken hearted. They had fought the night before about some stupid thing and she always felt bad about not apologizing to him about it." Meg smiled over at him. "I figured giving them a little time to forgive and forget would be perfect."

Momaru sighed as he leaned his head against hers, taking in a deep breath. "I'm sorry." She whispered into his ear. He looked down and stared at her. What in the world was she apologizing for?

"For what? You haven't done anything." He smiled softly.

"For starting that argument… you wouldn't have left if I wouldn't have…" She looked away from him and he gripped her chin.

"That fight was my fault… and what happened afterwards was my fault and you shouldn't ever blame yourself for it." He pressed his forehead to hers. He had missed her, and it was just now that he realized it.

"Maybe we could start over?" She looked up at him. This wasn't what she was supposed to do… she was supposed to just distract him but she had to clear all of this up. He blinked again and she smiled hopefully.

"Alright… I can agree to that." He smiled back, pulling her in closer. Her arms wrapped around his neck and she smiled as he kissed her.

&&&

Ichigo sighed as he poured another draught beer. "Let Me Entertain You" but Robbie Williams thumped through the speakers as he wiped down part of the bar. Then he saw a familiar indigo halter sit at the bar.

"Whoa! Where the hell did you come from?" She grinned. His bright amber eyes were set beneath furrowed brows as he teasingly turned away from her. "Sorry I don't give out free drinks." Then he felt her hand on the back of his pants. He turned around to face her.

"How about a Sex on the Beach?" She pulled him down her to her and kissed him gently. He smiled.

"I could arrange that." He grinned back. She wiggled a petite finger at him which he caught and kissed.

"I mean the drink Kurosaki." She let go of him.

"I know I know… but the other wouldn't be so bad…" He grinned and backed away from her as she swatted at him.

"You two keeping it in your pants over here?" Kazumi laughed as she dragged the other bartender over to the bar. He kept his arms fastened around her waist at all times.

"He won't give me my drink." Rukia motioned at the carrot-top. Kazumi tugged on the Quincy's hands.

"Off me." She commanded and he frowned. "Off…" She swatted at him again. He let go of her with a whine and sat down on the next bar stool.

"So have you two made up?" Rukia raised an eyebrow. Ichigo coughed into her glass and then handed her the drink. She stared at him, jutting her jaw forward. "Did you seriously just do that? _Did you seriously just do that_?" She stared at him.

"It's free if the tender does anything wrong to your glass." Uryu laughed at her.

"Oh… wait now you're just trying to get out of paying for my drinks!" Kazumi and Uryu laughed with Ichigo as the black haired woman fussed at them all.

"Uh oh." Kazumi leaned back from the bar and Uryu followed her movements. "Look who's coming."

A hand grabbed onto her wrist and swung her behind him. "What did I tell you Quincy?" He spat. Arisu bowed slightly to Uryu in an apology. "Didn't I tell you to stay away from her?"

"Let her go." Uryu said calmly. This time he wasn't going to let himself get upset.

"Momaru don't. He's not hurting me." The shinigami captain froze.

"He's… not?" He turned to look at her and she nodded.

"I'm the one that was hurting him… so just leave him alone." She pulled out of his grasp again. "Please stop trying to protect me all the time… I want to try and remake the pact." Momaru stared at her as she walked over the Uryu.

"I'm sorry?" Momaru looked down, his face etched with confusion. "You don't want me to protect you?"

"Momaru… I do but not from him. He's not going to hurt me." She put a hand on her best friend's face. "Not from him." She whispered. The green eyed shinigami stared into her eyes.

"Leave him alone?"

"Leave him alone." She nodded. He looked sad for a second.

"I'm sorry… I didn't mean to do anyone any harm…" He whispered to her, his eyes filling with tears.

"You didn't Momaru. Now just calm down… you can be friends with him can't you?" She smiled at him.

"I guess." He pulled away from her. "I gotta think about this." He walked out of the bar. Kazumi looked over at Uryu.

"He didn't take well to that…" She pulled on her jacket. "I'll see you guys later." She turned to walk out at the five second countdown began for New Years. A hand grabbed hers and pulled her over, pulling her up to his lips as the bar exploded into cheers as the clock rang up midnight.

"Happy New Years." Uryu whispered and let her go. She smiled at him then turned and ran out the front door.


End file.
